'Route' (2021) by Hazel E Hutchison

By Hazel E Hutchison 2021

photo of coffee developing

Introduction My practice considers ideas of illness, vulnerability, adaptation and resilience. I have been exploring a personal examination of bodily and mental fragility within the context of domestic confinement. My own experience of emergency surgery in 2019 and the period of physical vulnerability and restraint endured through recovery, bears similarities with our collective experience of lockdown in 2020.

My latest work, Route illustrates another step towards a personal recovery, as suggested by the title. I wanted to demonstrate a motivation to be out more in nature while inside during lockdown, and to reflect the connection between myself, my body, and the adaptations found there. Conceptually, I decided to explore how external factors affect appearance and draw comparisons with my own body post-surgery; observing the idea that humans and nature both go through challenges.

Both of my artistic processes contribute to my views on health and the effect that the surgical experience has had on my well-being. Economical photographic techniques are used (developing photographic negatives with coffee/ washing soda/ vitamin C) to recognize a process that had minimal health risks and less environmental toxicity. They are then displayed onto glass to generate a sense of the fragility experienced.

Process The starting point of my work is a photograph, which I develop and transform using a variety of media and techniques. Analogue black and white processes are utilised to pay homage to traditional photography, the development process untraditional. I use economical methods to develop photographic negatives by using plants or coffee, vitamin C, and washing soda in place of a standard chemical developer. The risks associated to environment and safety reduces, as well as being a more accessible artistic practice.

Negatives are then digitally printed as decal transfers and placed onto glass offering multiple perspectives to the viewer. This photo book presents a series of photographic diptychs that demonstrate various body and landscape connections. The pictures reveal adaptations of nature which are mimicked in self-portraiture.

Salt water tests

MY SALT WATER FIX RECIPE

120mm

INSTRUCTIONS Take 180g table salt and add it to 600ml warm water.

Stir well, dissolve. >>>>

My results from this recipe have turned out well. In some tests, I left salt on the film and in others, I tried to apply light leaks. These have lasted nine months without fading. The next four pages show some negatives using only salt-water as fixative. This recipe is based on research from various sources and experimentation to suit 120 mm film.

Change amounts to suit.

Pour salt water mix into development tank and agitate 10 times initially.

Leave for 3 days going ever y so often to agitate twice. Rinse film well for a minimum of 20 minutes, the film should be ready and fixed!

This project started off on a windy day out in the Derbyshire Peaks. At Stanton Moor, a lonely weather-beaten tree caught my attention and I felt a trace of empathy for it.

After enduring a brief but traumatic emergency surgery abroad, a year had gone by and I was more than just physically altered by its effects.

I was left questioning the meaning of events in my thoughts and felt alone. In nature, walks out helped and various forms caught my eye. It made me feel related to the world after seeing adaptations like this and understanding that everyone and everything faces challenges.

The form of this tree has been shifted by impact, but it still stands and grows in a different direction, I hope to do the same.

Thank you!

For viewing my artwork during lock down 2020