Calico, from the series Lithics, 2025.
Diptych:
Panel 1 - Giclée print on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag, Machine Generated Analysis
Panel 2 - Stacked transparent Plexiglass layers
White wooden frame
Each 45 x 35 cm
The left panel of each work in the Lithics series has been analysed by machine to generate a ‘post anthropic forensic analysis’ which is shown in a separate panel as above.
The layers of the right hand panel here include archival material and data related to the first panel which shows the remains of a calico printers in Rossendale.
Calico printing flourished across the UK after the Calico act, which severely penalised the import of Calico from overseas, devastating the established industry in other parts of the world:
‘that from Michaelmas 1701, all wrought silks, Bengals and stuffs, mixed with silk or herba, of the manufacture of Persia, China or East India; and also all printed calicoes, and all painted, dyed or stained there, shall be locked up in warehouses appointed by the commissioners of the customs, till re-exported; so none of the said goods should be worn or used, in either apparel or furniture, in England, on forfeiture thereof, and also of two hundred pound penalty on th persons having or selling any of them’
