She collects specimens of (un)natural history from the coastal strandlines, city roads, jacket pockets or the studio floor. Things eroded, smashed, or squashed flat, which she then transforms into prints. These etched and pressed traces create ambiguous images, resembling biological and geological forms and reminding us of our material connections and entanglements.
Hodges recent cycle of work ‘Unfolding’ where she makes prints from flattened cardboard boxes rescued from her recycling bin are intriguing and demonstrate her unique technique. These containers for our consumer goods during their global journeys are inked with pigment made from earth she has collected on her walks around the coast of England and Wales. She overlaps the prints from several unfolded boxes to build up complex shapes reminiscent of robotic constructions, palimpsestic building plans or totemic figures. A reminder that something unexpected may emerge from the debris of our unbridled consumption.
Sam Hodge, is currently showing some new work made with coal pigments from the Thames in ‘The Ground Beneath Our Feet’ at GroundWork Gallery in King’s Lynn, until 26th August.
Image:
Unfolding (A Proper Brew), print from unfolded cardboard packaging with inks made from earths gathered on the Devon coast, on grey Somerset paper, unique print, 2022, H740 mm x W520 mm.
Courtesy and ©Sam Hodge and Renee Pfister Art & Gallery Consultancy, 2023.
#recycling #upcycling #samhode #marestreet #thepowerofart #cityroads #eroded
#reneepfisterartandgalleryconsultancy # #specimens #cardboardboxes #coastalstrands
#floors