John A. Blythe

I am an artist and educator based in Oxfordshire. I situate my practice in expanded photography, particularly the exploration of photography as a medium of material interaction. Photography is my first language, its materials and processes the too...

I am an artist and educator based in Oxfordshire. I situate my practice in expanded photography, particularly the exploration of photography as a medium of material interaction. Photography is my first language, its materials and processes the tools in which I feel the most freedom to play. My concern is with the elemental, I make images that, while abstract, are also somehow familiar. I work with colour photographic films and papers, but I use only chemistry and surface, allowing the innate characteristics of fluid motion to find their natural form. I am looking for an emotional resonance that embodies the beauty that exists in those elements of nature that we each find in a singular moment of personal connection. I specifically work with obsolete colour photographic papers and films that are decades old, yet still vibrant with colour and possibility, which might otherwise be redundant. Being able to transform them into something new. To breathe new life into them fills me with joy.