light art and light art festivals

I use historical alternative photographic processes to create artworks which have light as a central component in both their creation and presentation. This includes making photograms, anthotypes and cyanotypes by using experimental light-based photographic processes. You can see examples here.

I completed the Lightlab programme with Light up the North (LightPool, Durham Lumiere and Light Night Wigan) between September 2025 and February 2026. You can read my CV/Biography here.

About my light artworks

The cyanotype animation that I bring to light art festivals is rooted in a shift towards developing a sustainable creative practice and my commitment to the climate emergency. I create engaging light artworks that explore the natural world and wildlife - in its broadest sense.

Cyanotype is a slow, analogue, historical artform, which creates images on paper using light. Individual hand printed cyanotype contact sheets are made, scanned, and edited before being animating using standard stop animation software (opposed to AI). My cyanotype animations don’t look polished and that’s my aim with the aesthetic – in a world of misinformation, AI and difficulty in knowing what’s real or otherwise, the intention is for audiences to know that this piece has truly been handmade (including mistakes, fogging, hairs or marks that become part of the process and final result). This approach is real, organic, low toxic and environmentally friendly.

You can see two examples below of this process.

Current commissions

I’m working on a new light artwork called ‘Street Aquarium’ (demo below) which will premiere this November at two light art festivals in the UK. Street Aquarium brings a typical indoor visitor attraction onto the streets through cyanotype animation. Light is absolutely at the heart – both in making the initial hand printed cyanotype images, and in the digital projection of the final animation. Like a lot of my work, it will invite audiences to pause and take notice as they discover something unexpected and captivating within a familiar urban environment. It taps into the growing trend of analogue photography and recent OFCOM data which suggests that people are moving away from instant social media gratification and craving something more real and authentic.

Please contact me for proof of concept visuals and a technical note for this piece.

Other light art projects in development

I’m working with the Cultural Institute and teaching academic Seb Stroud at The University of Leeds to develop a new light artwork concept which aims to raise awareness of endemic plant stories, especially those native to Yorkshire. Watch this space!