On Tuesday, 4th December, we went to visit the Thames with archeologist and photographer, Danny Treacy. Treacy is a London based photographer, who curates images through various mediums, such as sculpture, performance, collecting, archaeology and anthropology. When studying photography in Brighton, Treacy felt as if he wasn't drawn to anything to photograph in particular, as someone who was more interested in capturing "past lives, gathering scattered fragments to reconstitute a picture of our civilization”. Whilst on holiday in the west coast of Ireland, Treacy encountered an abandoned house, which there was an abundance of in Ireland because renovation was unnecessary; there was so much space to build new property. What captivated Treacy about this space was the feeling that he didn't belong there, unlike Brighton, he felt as if he was exploring something new; tainted yet untouched. It was at this point, when he continued to investigate and photograph his surroudings, Danny Treacy found his love for scavenging in radical spaces- spaces where humans might've behaved in extreme ways. Treacy looks for evidence of expression of raw humanity, and the residue this leaves behind. When looking for objects to make cyanotypes with at the River Thames, we discovered relics of various generations; general litter but also ambiguous items, broken and rusty, which were useful in casting interesting shapes for the cyanotypes. What I particularly enjoyed about the process was the fact that we were giving seemingly useless objects a purpose, by putting them together and forming a representation of the past. Similarly, Danny Treacy's main focus at the moment is gathering various items of unused clothing, and putting them together to create the shape of a human body. After photographing what he has sculpted against a plain black background to emphasise their indivuduality, Treacy has created an image that encapsulates our civilisation, which is a theme that was consistent throughout the process at the Thames.
examples of Treacy's work
Cyanotypes
nyanotypes are images made using light, and the reaction it has on light sensitive paper. Above, are the objects we gathered at the Thames, and used to make our cyanotypes. As you can see, the more opaque objects used create more successful cyanotypes- making more clear and prominent shapes. This is due to the fact that the more opaque objects,like the shoe sole and the large circular metal plate, do not allow any light to seep through and hence, the light sensitive paper does not react to what is covered. The least successful cyanotype in my opinion is the top right one (see gallery), as there is no defined shapes or prevalent forms in the image, creating little visual stimulation. For this cyanotype, we used dry grass we found scattered on the beach, and due to its lightness and thin nature, it did not lie on the paper properly, often blowing away or just generally being lift off the paper, not being pressed down enough. This mean that a lot of sunlight crept through, affecting the paper, meaning there are no clear shapes. My personal favourite of the cyanotypes is the first one in the gallery (top left). To make this image, we used wet pebbles on the beach, attempting to cover the whole page, we dropped them from high up and let them scatter on the paper. As you can see, a lot of the pebbles and even the water stayed in the middle of the page, forming a prominent structure, whilst smaller shapes dispersed from it. What I found interesting about this specific cyanotype, is the fact that the water did not allow light to seep through, making a clearer image. This cyanotype reflects Treacy's idea of collecting and reflecting, the changing and tainted nature of what humans leave behind, more specifically how nature changes yet simultaneously stays the same. I enjoyed the process of making cyanotypes at the Thames,and I thought working with Treacy was helpful as he approached things in an interesting way, incorporating exploration with photography.