“Are you writing this all down?” she said.
“I can’t”, I said. “It’s beyond painful.”
– Pippa Healy
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I am an artist whose practice explores the space between photography and printmaking. The work I make is diaristic and consumed with themes around loss, longing, violence and grief. My practice is emotionally driven. My experiences shape the way I make my work. I am fascinated by the abject and the sublime, and the duality of fact and fiction.
‘The Lake’ series was made alone whilst walking in a meditative state around Lake Altaussee in Austria. My head was hurting, I had recently had a brain scan and I was exhausted. I was searching for answers to relieve my plummeting emotions. I found myself within dramatic landscapes that were full of mountains, forests and deep lakes. They were situated in a place steeped in dark histories, of fairy tales and war time secrets. There was a real sense of foreboding from the external terrain and also my personal internal trauma, post MRI brain scan.
The series was created initially with a Contax T2 35mm camera using film with a light leak. The undetermined nature of working with an analogue process was integral to the series. The outcome of the image is only revealed when the film is developed. I wanted to take these images apart, akin to what I was trying to do with my own thoughts. I then wanted to put them physically back together layer by layer using printmaking processes onto the paper.
I found myself in a performative mode whilst creating the images, using both physical and mental strength to create the work. The physical act of walking is integral to the work. The light leaks bring a sense of ‘otherness’. They became a totem for placing myself back into that landscape.
I wanted to use printmaking processes which echoed photographic processes. I used the exposure units and the darkroom to make four colour photopolymers. It was my intention to consciously choose a highly technical process which would enable the final images to be cinematic and sublime. In screen- printing I used the CMYK palette but changed the sequence in which the colours were printed to create familiar but rather strange new landscapes.
The series is made from photographs, mixed media collage, screen printing, screen etch resist and photopolymer. The processes enabled the images to be repeated and revisited. I was able to dismantle and then recreate.
“If only I could turn off this buzzing in my head.
The blue deep blue water. The dark green trees.
Crunch. Crunch.
This sense of heavy dread grew with each step.”
– Pippa Healy
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Pippa Healy is a multidisciplinary artist based in London.
Her handmade ‘Zines’, which are often raw, abject and diaristic in style are central to her practice. Her work has been exhibited internationally and is part of a number of private collections. Her series ‘Sick’ was selected for Festival Circulation(s) in Paris in 2019. She was also named by Gup magazine ‘Fresh Eyes Photo’ book presenting 100 photographers emerging in Europe.
Pippa works with both analogue and digital photography as well as printmaking techniques such as screen-printing and photopolymer. Her hand made photobooks are sold in The Photographers Gallery in London, and The Library Project in Dublin. The zines have been exhibited internationally and are held in the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol and in many private collections.
Pippa studied photography at UAL Central St Martins and graduated with a distinction from Westminster University in MA Photographic Studies in 2016. In 2020 she graduated from UAL Camberwell with a distinction in MA Printmaking. She is the recipient of the 2020 Bainbridge Studio Prize and has been shortlisted for The Signature Art Prize.
For further viewing: pippahealy.com @pippahello
