Print — Camilla Fanning

The Island Series

This is an ongoing body of work which so far has been exhibited in Berlin and Dublin. during 2024.

The technique involved significant experimentation, including printing on both sides of paper and combining intaglio with relief printing, using letterpress old wooden type blocks. The printed surfaces evoke the textures of landscapes, interwoven with elements of maps, numbers, and letters, all drawn from cartographic references.

‘In these works, wilderness is juxtaposed to modes of containment inviting the observer to question our relationship with the land, with the environment, with planet earth. Are these phenomena just resources for use, only valued as utility, or are they to be revered and recognised as essential to our own existence’ (Dr Anna Wilkins 2024).

This series questions our relationship with Place and Land, interrogating the impulse to measure and to control. The pieces include sculptural artists’ books and prints using traditional etching and letterpress techniques. Each piece challenges the viewer to reconsider the boundaries we impose on the natural world and our perceptions of it.

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The Ar Nos series started with ‘Petrol Pump’ which was exhibited in the Royal Academy Summer Show in 2017. The most recent additions to the series are below.

‘During an early 1970’s summer I was given a small Kodak Eastman Instamatic pocket camera to use. The 110mm film came in a cartridge and took square black and white photos. It was a small flat plastic rectangle with a tiny off-centre lens. A yellow strip with black arrows visible through a tiny square hole measured the film as it was used. I carefully watched the black arrows on the yellow strip counting down. But neither this nor the lens were particularly accurate which often resulted in the most random of photos at odd angles being taken. I recently found a trove of these old photos in a musty album. They show a child’s eye view of the times, innocent of the context. But looking at them now there is a sense of the Uncanny, that they represent more than what they show; with the benefit of hindsight we see things differently. Emotion is embedded in memory and is often a more accurate measure of what we experienced. The summer I took these photos is etched in my physical memory, the sounds and images stir up old feelings and associations, and not all of them are benign’.

These were shown as part of an installation including sound and drawing in Asna Gallery in Clonakilty in 2022. The exhibition incorporated etchings, drawings and a soundscape featuring the cawing of crows to create an immersive experience for the audience. In this work the artist is looking at powerful associations, and embodied memories, in the places we know and move through. Her work is about Place and is a response to both what is there and the shared hidden history within places and landscapes’

Each print is on Zirkal German Etch paper, the plates are made using the photopolymer technique. Each image is 13cm H x 12cmW on paper Paper 29cm x 32cm

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The Tower Series

This is a response to the idea of home as embodied in a significant place. The Poolbeg chimneys are a much loved landmark for Dubliners, despite being less than lovely in themselves. Whenever anyone has the temerity to suggest pulling them down there is an outcry, even new paint is eyed suspiciously. For anyone who had to leave to find work, or for whatever unwilling reason, these towers have a deep resonance. They are the first thing we see as we approach Dublin airport, the tips of the chimneys appearing on the horizon, and then everyone knows they are finally home.

I have decided to make a series of twelve images using this motif. Each one will be a classic three copper plate etching but foregrounding a different key technique in each print while also experimenting with the process. Only three colour inks will be used, all of the variations being created through overprinting and careful control of the etching process to create tones and colour mixes. Within these parameters I can use a variety of resists, sugar lift, spit bite and soft-gound. typically the plate is worked over repeated tines to get the exact image required, generally pushing the medium to its limits but all the time respecting this classic three plate etching technique.

The first two of the series are of the typical views of the towers from either side of Dublin Bay, In Home at Last I we see the Poolbeg Chimneys at sunset from the Clontarf side of the bay. This etching was made towards the end of the pandemic when lock-downs limited where we could go, this one one of the views I most associate with that time. Home at Last II is taken from the other side of the bay, after the restrictions lifted, a year later. In Towers: Palimpsest the worn surfaces and flaking paint of the chimneys have inspired the use of spit-bite and textural resists.

The series started in response to a call by the Simon Communities Ireland to take part in a fund raising art exhibition. the theme was ‘Home’ and resonated with a lot of us, the exhibition became annual exhibitions and are a showcase of some of the best printmaking in Ireland. During the fundraiser the works are sold at a reduced price but any remaining of the edition can be purchased from the artists directly or via galleries. Each image is 13cm H x 12cmW on paper Paper 29cm x 32cm printed on Zirkal German Etch paper.

DM to enquire about purchase €180 P&P incl (also usually available in the Graphic Studio Dublin Gallery)