I love how you have combined the use of digital and analogue methods to combine the beauty of noise and grain. How did this journey start?

It was something that happened quite unexpectedly and through conversation. Paper developing is my favourite part of analogue photography. There is a magical moment when the image appears on the paper that I find captivating. I wanted to start a business to teach methods of analogue paper development in schools, galleries, markets etc. I got into conversation with Bob France, who I share a darkroom with, and we ended up discovering the idea of using smartphones instead of film - which was perfect because it is something almost everyone has access to. The lack of knowledge around the use of smartphones in a darkroom piqued our curiosity and launched us into finding out what we could achieve. Since the initial start of the project, my focus has shifted from making a commercial model based on the method to exploring my own artistic interests. When I saw how the technologies interacted, I wanted to emphasise the unique qualities it created by passing images through analogue and digital states multiple times and enlarging them to abstraction.

Where do you think this piece is going to take you in the future?

Since making this piece, I have been experimenting with colour development. This process is much more technical than black and white and is taking even more trial and error to understand. It is causing me to think more deeply about the type of light produced by smartphones; colour, structure and intensity. I am trying to make the paper perceive the light the way that my eye does. I have been in conversation with an anthropologist who is conducting research on how humans interact with digital artefacts and the interplay between the digital and the actual. This exchange has stimulated me to consider the conceptual and academic aspects of what I am doing. In the future, I would like to take up a residency to focus on the project for a couple of months. I would also like to expand the parameters of the project to include moving image and sound.

What made you choose draping fabric as the 'still life' to feature in this piece?

When I had the idea to create a series of interlinked images, I knew that there would be two subjects in the piece; the subject of the original image and the pixels created in the printing process. I knew that the pixels would come out in a rigid structure so I wanted something that would behave differently, flowing between each frame. It was only after creating and hanging the work that I realised the fabric in the image was visible when stood far away and the fabric of the image was visible when stood close. I love word play, so this was a satisfying discovery for me. It’s interesting that you refer to it as a ‘still life’. I haven’t really thought about it in these terms before and it makes me think about the piece in the context of fine art. It did feel like I was setting up a still life when I was draping the fabric, it was very staged and intentional.