Topographical Driftwood
‘Topographical driftwood’ is an exploration of instinct relating to how the landscape is felt, explored and memorised. It examines naturally occurring complex patterns and chaos theory in nature through photographs that contextualise one other. The project invites the viewer to engage with the visual tactility of natural forms and reflect on the overlooked intricacies of the living world.
Through bookbinding and hand-printing in the darkroom, the tactility of the project is mirrored in its assemblage, with striking visual textures that the viewer can almost feel, just through looking. In travelling to the same locations, the scenery is documented, and acts as a dialogue between the landscape and the audience, to convey the same shifting pattern of internal experience that is felt by us all, day after day.
Over a five month period, Sheps made work for this project, largely in the Peak District National Park, shooting 6x7 and 35mm film. It was a combination of taking prints from the landscape, photographing it, and interacting through touch that lead to markmaknig on the page, ranging from cyanotypes to relief rubbings.
This project was exhibited in the Bridge Hall Tavern in May, 2025 alongside 10 other students who made work in relation to the theme ‘hippocampus’. For this, she bound a hardback book of my work, and displayed darkroom prints as a debut showcase. The hands-on approach to printing and bookbinding really brought the work together, and provided a new insight to her practice, and the publication finished the work perfectly.
‘Topographical Driftwood’ - Edition of 1
‘Topographical driftwood’ is an exploration of instinct relating to how the landscape is felt, explored and memorised. It examines naturally occurring complex patterns and chaos theory in nature through photographs that contextualise one other. The project invites the viewer to engage with the visual tactility of natural forms and reflect on the overlooked intricacies of the living world.
Through bookbinding and hand-printing in the darkroom, the tactility of the project is mirrored in its assemblage, with striking visual textures that the viewer can almost feel, just through looking. In travelling to the same locations, the scenery is documented, and acts as a dialogue between the landscape and the audience, to convey the same shifting pattern of internal experience that is felt by us all, day after day.
Over a five month period, Sheps made work for this project, largely in the Peak District National Park, shooting 6x7 and 35mm film. It was a combination of taking prints from the landscape, photographing it, and interacting through touch that lead to markmaknig on the page, ranging from cyanotypes to relief rubbings.
This project was exhibited in the Bridge Hall Tavern in May, 2025 alongside 10 other students who made work in relation to the theme ‘hippocampus’. For this, she bound a hardback book of my work, and displayed darkroom prints as a debut showcase. The hands-on approach to printing and bookbinding really brought the work together, and provided a new insight to her practice, and the publication finished the work perfectly.
‘Topographical Driftwood’ - Edition of 1