This work in progress is in collaboration with Nicholas Middelton, an artist and close friend in the UK. Conceived at the start of the pandemic in March 2020, the piece was a way for us to remain connected despite the implications of stay-at-home mandates and the vast physical distance between us (roughly 7500km). Though reliant on cooperation, trust and a sharing of control, at a fundamental level the project is about close friendship and nourishment in small acts of creativity. Representing a long conversation, this durational piece has both a visual and written element; a series of photographs of our celestial neighbour are accompanied by alphanumeric data observations. The photographs are all taken with the same camera posted back and forth between us, loaded with a single sheet of large format film and fitted with 48 separate pinhole lenses. With the written component comprising both practical and personal data, from the weather and phase of the moon to our thoughts on current affairs around the world and important incidents in our personal lives. It was hoped the camera would pass between us 47 times or after it had travelled approximately 360,000km, the equivalent of the distance between Earth and the moon when at perigee (or during a Supermoon)
However, the camera vanished after the 43rd of the 47 photographs had been taken (at the end of 2023), having been lost in the post on its way back to the UK. Presuming the camera is now gone for good, the project has shifted gear, with discussions currently ongoing between Nicholas and myself about how best to proceed. It was always intended that part of the project would take the form of an artist’s book, but with no camera and therefore no exposed film sheet to process and print, our accompanying data and documentation will likely take more of a front row seat.
ANTHONY CARR 