Danny Treacy is an artist based in London who integrates various processes in his photography including archeology, performance and sculpturing. From 1994-95 he did an art foundation diploma in stockport college then in 1995-98 he studied photography in the university of Brighton. He then furthered his education by studying fine art photography in the royal college of art in London. His work has been exhibited in several countries and has been featured in various magazines. Whilst in Ireland he took an interest in exploring and photographing abandoned buildings as it is common to leave a building without destroying and rebuilding it. By exploring these places, Treacy linked the spaces to his childhood memories of breaking into abandoned places and going around smashing and breaking things. Treacy was drawn to liminal spaces as it allows him to question his surroundings and the ambiguity they possess. This helped him heighten his own awareness to the objects present as well as the unknowing of the past activities within the space. Using film made him be conscious and selective about what he chose to photograph but also the slow and precise process allowed him to make sense of all the information present. Time is an important theme in Treacys work as the contents of his photographs relies on peoples activities and remnants from the past. The time that has passed is what creates the scenes left behind what they are till the moment of capturing the photographs. Creating this series, took place over 1-2 years which also adds another dimension to the. importance of time in the development of the photos. Another key theme is growth and decay; the growth and progressing of peoples lives as they move from place to place over time yet the physical decay of the spaces which are left to rot. Growth can also be seen as part of they process of decay with the growth of microorganisms and mould which in time will replace what was left by the original inhabitants. By Treacy using and creating the space, it allowed it to grow into something new when to others it could be seen as nothing significant.
Treacy felt that his work relied on the previous inhabitants of these spaces and wanted to feel more involved. To do this, he focused on the clothes left behind as it represented intimacy and allowed him to be physically closer to the people. The idea of collecting and revising these clothes meant that time was extended and he could become even closer to the peoples lives. From this, he came up with a collection called 'them' where he wore other peoples clothes that had been left in places but not intentionally dumped, for example not in skips or charity shops. The pieces of clothing show the tension within peoples activities and the act of creating new pieces from them comments on the fact that those activities were unknown. Another idea however is that the clothes actually represent what we do know about the people and can be used as forensic evidence of people and places yet also manipulates their individuality which is still unknown.
This idea lead him to use these pieces of clothing to piece together an 'outfit' to wear and then photograph himself. In each photograph there is a piece of clothing covering his face thus giving the clothing identity rather than himself, who is just the model. This is idea is furthered by the confrontational uniform position he replicates each time showing there is meaning to the clothes he is wearing and that they are the focus of the photographs. The bottom left photograph shows clothes that had been found in the site of the Olympic park, Treacy decided to display these pieces by slitting them in half and placing them together to form two separate halves of each item. This represents competing and rivalry as well as the area the clothing had been found in the first place. The area had been split to be converted into arenas and stadiums leaving unwanted belongings were left lying around.
Subsequently, Treacy produced a project titled 'them' where he collected objects on foot as a way of 'urban scavenging'. To photograph these objects Treacy wanted to show them their natural form but placed together to represent nature. This idea helps suggest the relationship between man made objects and nature and how they interact. this is also shown by moss and aphids growing upon the objects and how nature will always rule how things end up.
Our trip to the Thames
Creating cyanotypes
In the 4th of December 2018 Treacy came to our school to speak to us about his work. We then went on a walk to the river Thames in Greenwich for the purpose of exploring the liminal space on the shore of the Thames as well as scavenging for objects to photograph both on the shore and along our walk to the Thames. whilst on the shore we gathered the objects to produce cyanotypes on the beach, washing them in the Thames. Objects found on the shore of the Thames resembled centuries that have passed, hidden until washed up on the bank; being replaced as each day passes. They are evidence of those who lived before us however the identities of the people who had used or made each item are completely unknown; the same concept of the clothe Treacy would collect and use.
Cyanotype paper uses ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide to form light sensitive paper which can be used to make a cyan-blue print by simply using; light and water to stop the process.
The cyanotypes which came out the best were the ones which were smaller and had more intricate details which can be seen in the first two photographs. It helps present the depth seen in the images clearer though the larger objects with soft edges create a different type of image which elicits questioning about the objects but also the contrast between the parts which are sharper and how the lead into the more faded areas (shown in the last image). Another factor which made certain images more successful were those which had more contrast between the dark and light areas; those which were left longer before washing.
My response
I chose to make a simple 3 page spread zine as a response to our trip. i chose a selection of photographs taken on the day on the walk and the shore as well as of the objects we collected and took back school. The front and back cover are photographs different angles of the same section looking onto the shore of the Thames in Greenwich. It shows that whats in-between is hidden representing things lost within time and physically hidden in the river only by chance, to be found.