I begin 2024 with four small etchings. At the end of 2023, I finished processing and printing my ‘Dockyard Diary’ series, a body of work documenting plantlife allowed to run wild in Woolwich Dockyard, a former site of empire and British maritime power. 

What remained to me was 6 litres of nearly spent, highly contaminated saline sulphate solution. Not only was the solution filled with copper sediment, there were trace amounts of plantlife, debris, and acrylic ground floating in the mix, making it unsuitable for any fine or accurate etching.

As I was getting ready to find scrap metal to neutralise the solution for disposal, I came across an old strip of discarded mild steel that I had degreased and put a hard ground on, back in 2019. I was curious to see how much ‘breath’ I still had in the mordant, so I drew these four plates, and placed them into the solution. They went in, in 24 hour intervals, so that the first plate ended up with a 96 hour etch, the second with a 72 hour etch, third with a 48 hour etch, and the fourth plate, a meagre 24 hour etch.

I was surprised by how much strength there remained, and ashamed that I had been about to neutralise and dispose of it. They are coarse, but in my mind, rather beautiful. These four plates are reminder to myself that the materials are precious, and to make the most of each breath.

As an aside, I have always had a meditation practice – I started when I was 19 and have never looked back. It is partly faith-based, but also a way of channeling energy, anxiety, and a long standing relationship with depression. Watching the plates in the bath, slowly using up the etchant, felt like a four-day meditation – when I was away from the studio, they remained in my mind like an anchor to practice.  

These four plates have been printed in editions of 10, with a few multiplate compositions in the pipeline. 
They are available here.