My Technique – Gelatin Transfer

• I start with a board onto which I affix textured metal foil. The foil is then coated with layers of clear acrylic varnish.
• The images, which are photo collages of my own photography are electronically manipulated and printed onto a plastic film which has as a base a layer of gelatin.
• I then flood the foil board with gelatin and place the image on top. The two layers of gelatin (the one on the board and the one onto which the image is printed) merge.
• The plastic film is lifted away, leaving the image on the board.
• Once dry, the image can be completed with pen, brush or airbrush
• Two final coats of acrylic varnish seal the pigment and provide the sense of depth.

Much of what we read, whether it’s the Bible or the latest environmental impact report puts forward the notion that humankind is somehow apart from the rest of creation. What could do more to promote this idea than Genesis 1:29 “…let them have dominion over the fish of the sea… …and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth”.  This hubris is not universal. Other “less developed” societies see themselves as part of nature, charged with living within its constraints.

To the extent that we in the developed world accept that human activity threatens our existence, we cling to the notion that today’s technology can solve the problems caused by yesterday’s technology. Faith in technological solutions feeds the chimera of limitless growth.

I did my first aerial photography in 2007 and I was immediately struck by the way the earth’s physical features were echoed in the human figure. River bends can mirror shoulders, knees and elbows and old mountains can undulate like a body at rest.

This series of images is my reminder that we are not just like the earth, we are the earth. We rise from it and will return to it, and whether we walk its surface or fly miles above it, we are still part of the earth.

She’s the Greek Moon goddess. Sold on day two!

There’s much to be done to this, but it might just make it in time for Sept 3