The book begins with the words - I stand in darkness peering into silence and on the second page - looking for ghosts of the past and traces of vanished lives.
I created a print for the second page which showed shadowy fragmented light in the background with the foreground purely black and blocking the viewer from entering the image. My intention was to create the suggestion of a vital living past that was not accessible to the viewer.
Last year I received the gift of a beautiful small print made by my friend Susan Goddard. What a fantastic print and depiction of light it is.
The viewer experiences the feeling of being in the car in the bush with the headlights piercing into the darkness and lighting up fragments of the close trees and surrounds whilst the background remains black and impenetrable.
I decided to hang these two prints together in my room and was immediately struck by the interesting way light has been utilised in these prints. In both the viewer is peering into the darkness. However the intention is quite opposite - in one the foreground is well lit and the background impenetrable and in the other the foreground is dark and closed off with the suggestion of unreachable life and light in the background.
I enjoy seeing them both hanging together and am constantly fascinated by these two images, their similarities and differences.
