Statement of Intent

The brief asks you to respond to the following quote by author John Updike and requires you to submit the 6 Exhibition Standard prints alongside an accompanying Critical Journal (my blog).

“My only duty was to describe reality as it had come to me — to give the mundane its beautiful due.” – John Updike.

Throughout the Alternative Processes and Darkroom Practice module I will be exploring the different printing processes and techniques relating to analogue photography. This modules aim is to further my technical knowledge of analogue processes such as cyanotypes, anthotypes, salt printing and the use of liquid light when printing onto different surfaces such as metal or wood etc.

Definition of: mundane

1: of, relating to, or characteristic of the world
2: characterized by the practical, transitory, and ordinary:
COMMONPLACE the mundane concerns of day-to-day life

When I think about things that are 'mundane' I think about the things that I use and the things that I see everyday; using the same mug to make a cup of tea every morning, using the same mode of transport, visiting the same architecture etc. But another thing that I think of when I hear the word 'mundane' is nature. Nature has been a part of the world for thousands of centuries and by nature I mean wildlife, forests, rivers etc.; it was here before the buildings, it was here before any modes of transport were invented and (depending on your belief) it was here before humanity itself, but we have a problem...

The world as we know it has an over-population crisis which means that more and more natural areas such as fields and other open areas of land are being bought by county councils and governments for them to strip away the natural world in order to build more houses to "solve" the over-population crisis.

In November 2017, it was reported that the government was celebrating the fact that 217,000 homes had been built in that year meaning that they had 'hit their target'.
Link here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/11/16/government-celebrates-building-217000-homes-year-hitting-target/

There are quite a few ares in and around my hometown of Sittingbourne that are being targeted as the next areas to potentially host new housing. Borden, a little village 5 minutes drive from me has been protesting the Kent County Councils proposal to build new housing in their area since 2017.
Link to article here: https://www.kentonline.co.uk/sittingbourne/news/protesters-take-to-the-streets-119678/ 

Throughout this project I will be exploring these targeted areas and taking landscape photographs of each one using both digital and analogue cameras and in those photos I plan to show the natural beauty of the lactation but they will also show small (but soon to increase) man-made interruptions within the settings. I also plan to spend half - a full day at each location, scouting the areas for items to bring back so that I can experiment with the idea of using them to make prints (anthotypes) or I will use them to print my photographs onto using liquid light.