MB1+MB2 (numbered and signed of 100 copies)

Philip J Brittan
MB1+MB2 (numbered and signed of 100 copies)

Photographs: Philip J Brittan

Publisher: Self published

Pictures: 35

Year: 2021

Comments: Hand sewn, 24,2 x 43,3cm, Edition of 100, numbered and signed The book is presented on a 2300 micron board mounted with a full bleed print Each book includes two prints: black and white 12x8 inch print on Japanese paper and A4 colour print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl

MB1+MB2 contains selections from two series of images inspired by the landscape of the Morecambe Bay area in the north west of England. The book contrasts black and white film manipulation and distortion and colour abstracts of rephotographed chromogenic prints, cyanotypes, and screen prints that have been treated to a mix of processes and experimentation. Technically and aesthetically both series move back and forth across the digital divide, with digital images manipulated in the darkroom and analogue processes and prints reinterpreted digitally. The work attempts to reflect the mood of visual uncertainty that is, I feel, most accurately symbolic of the unique Morecambe Bay landscape.

Morecambe Bay is an inlet of the Irish Sea in the north west of England, eighteen miles in length with an average width of ten miles. The Bay has one of the highest tidal ranges in the world, and the second highest in the United Kingdom after the Bristol Channel. The group of four large estuaries that comprise Morecambe Bay form the largest area of intertidal sands and mudflats in the United Kingdom, covering a total area of 310 square kilometres (120 square miles). In addition there are associated saltmarshes, shingle beaches and other vital coastal habitats. There are seven islands in the Bay, five of which can be walked to at low tide.

Morecambe Bay is a special, dynamic landscape. The constantly changing weather and light, strong winds, vast sands and shifting channels formed by the rapidly receding tide, ensure that each visit to the Bay is a unique visual experience. The wide horizontal perspective of the images has been chosen to reflect the geographical shape of the Bay.