Drawing with Light – Describing an Arc
This body of work began with the discovery of a box of Soviet sextant parts in my dad’s cellar. Somehow it didn’t seem entirely out of place that he would have such a thing, although the circumstances surrounding its acquisition – from Sewills of Liverpool – were a little shady.
This work speaks of our relationship, the interests and skills he fostered in me and the quirks and inclinations of his genetic legacy.
Having worked with computers since they used punch cards, his home office was a treasure trove of outdated and cutting edge technologies, precariously piled up together. I could invariably find him somewhere in the midst of a tangle of cables and blinking lights and curling cigarette smoke. I could rely on him to regale me into the night with explanations of the world in scientific terms.
I have taken elements of the sextants – the lenses and aluminium fabrication – and combined them with processes we explored together – photography, electronics and programming. My degree of exactitude and my drive to do a good job, is most certainly inherited from him, as are the wild flights of fancy and the “what if…?”
In loving memory of my dad, Adrian Adams (1944-2014)
With thanks to United Aluminium Ltd. for materials donated.
