Relief in Time | Time in Relief

The title for the exhibition, Relief in Time | Time in Relief, was taken from a text by Roger Shattuck in response to Marcel Proust’s understanding of time, the sense that an accumulation of similar yet slightly different viewpoints produces a sense of volume, dimensionality and relief in time. The exhibition at the Rijksmuseum Twenthe, takes a former coal mine as the backdrop for the work. Dominated by a grey monochrome palette, a fragmented panoramic image takes up a dynamic position in the corner of the room. The work extends a nod to traditional printmaking attributes, with subtle interventions of doubling and mirroring of the image, suggesting the unrelenting repetition of the daily grind of the miners. However, the image's incapacity to complete that loop in this particular instance, reminds us of the finite nature of this non-renewable resource. A series of 6 drawings on graphite transfer-paper, produced in the same way you would produce a monoprint, appear almost in relief and reference the floor installation, a map, layed down using stencils and coal dust, depicting the subterranean tunnels of the coal mine. The work tests the boundaries of printmaking within contemporary practice and brings the practice of print into the public domain within a prestigious museum context.