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Digital Images Patterns, Monsters and Mysteries
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Digital Images Digital imaging provides a convenient and surprising way of making images from a variety of sources and processes, as well as the opportunity to present the results of these interactions in a variety of formats. Drawing, painting, photography, rubbings and scanned sources can be transformed, layered and juxtaposed, then projected, animated or reproduced as prints. My first explorations in the medium were during the process of making several sets of images for the installation Math son of Mathonwy in 1995, I created a digital animation principally from a series of drawings manipulated in Photoshop. Further images created in a similar way quickly assumed a life of their own, individually and as series of images, as well as further animations for installations.
Initially I drew on the Celtic-Christian tradition for source material, as the images were created as part of my interpretation of Welsh mythology and medieval narrative. In some instances, I was particularly interested in layering different medieval periods within images as a way of suggesting historical process: a kind of archaeological layering.
This was further developed in a body of work on two Welsh saints, Gwynllyw and Tatheus, which also incorporated architectural contexts and archaeology. Increasingly the images began to incorporate other kinds of source material, such as drawings, photographs and scanned images and texts.
The images above were from a series of three commissioned to illustrate the work of one of the most distinctive Welsh poets of the middle ages. Sion Cent was severe in his condemnation of the Welsh nobility but offered hope for the poor, following the teaching of Christ from the Gospels. The images make use of medieval carving and wall painting, as well as incorporating early transcripts of the poems.
The methods of making images often spill over into design work, and there is no clear distinction between images used for exhibitions, installations and graphic design. Bits of images are often recycled and find new contexts, carrying something of their original meaning as they travel.
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