During the second week of the Positions through Iterating studio brief, I explored the degradation of the buildings in the west coast of Ireland, using image-making as a form of research. I mirrored the demise in the stone cottage structure through degradation of images of the space. To create a robust structure for these experiments, I returned to the cataloguing system used within week one. I had previously indexed the moments of palimpsest within Somers Town into seven distinct categories. I mapped these terms into processes of image degradation.
- Signage
As signage was not a theme directly relevant within the stone cottage structures of the rural west coast of Ireland, it demanded a re-imagination of the term. In the context of this experiment, signage was interpreted as a move to signal the area of interest within the image through a process of slicing and removing a part of the photograph.
2. Ornamentation
This stage of the iterative process utilised correction fluid to obscure portions of the building where ornamentation was apparent. This included the fireplace, tiling and window frames. Where ornamentation was not present, the correction focused on removing parts of the image that pulled focus away from the stone structure.
3. Brickwork
The brickwork iteration reflected the traditional palimpsest techniques where scrolls were scrubbed to partially erase the script, allowing for the parchment to be reused. The photographs were scratched to deteriorate fragments of the image where the brickwork of the homestead had also deteriorated.
4. Metalwork
During this step, further segments of the image were removed, highlighting metalwork within the building. This is a direct contrast to where metalwork would have been located when the building was inhabited.
5. Mural
Pen drawing reestablished the form of the building which was beginning to become indeterminate through both the degradation of the building and the image. This process constituted the mural stage of the experiment and harked back to the examples of hand drawing and painting that were observed within Somers Town in London.
6. Addition
During this iteration, unaltered images were added to the collage. Some of the experiments reintroduced parts of the original photograph, whereas others affixed contrasting imagery.
7. Fixing
The final stage of the degradation of the images reintroduce a technique previously used in the earlier six iterative steps to fix or enhance aspects of the form of the structure.
During each stage of the iterative process the image was scanned and reprinted. This aided the degradation of the building as the resolution was reduced and the colours of the stone structure morphed into a textured landscape. This reaffirmed the notion that the derelict homestead buildings of the west coast of Ireland are exposed to contingency and are slowly returning to the land. This process was repeated on seven different images to create a total of 49 iterations.
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