Phil will be exhibiting one of his series of Superseeded prints, Hostile Environment (Beech Tree) (2021).
“During the third lock-down in 2021 I experimented with carborundum, embossing and overprinting when printing from plant material.” says Phil. “Part of my exploration of the UK National Tree Seed Project with whom I went on seed collecting expeditions in England and Scotland, I wanted to express the beauty and structure of the trees themselves and make visible the level of threat experienced by our native trees – from imported pests and diseases, climate change, urban development and agricultural intensification. The technique is hit and miss in terms of success, but, where it works, as here, I find the images are both haunting and hopeful. More recently, the Government’s Coronavirus advertising has hit on the same idea of making invisible threats visible!
