The Photographic Paper-print: Shape-Shifter, Form-Maker

Drawing on examples of my photographic practice, in particular a series of site-specific installations produced in Manchester and Salford (UK) since 2019, this paper reflects upon the spatial, visual and dimensional qualities of the photographic paper-print and its form-making potential. Using somewhat characterless or ‘banal’ spaces, including a retail unit, a projection room, a foyer, and a white-wall gallery as sites for transformation, I challenge the representational and depictive capabilities of the photograph. Printed onto standard A-sized paper, I use sculpture and installation to explore ‘non-standard’, dynamic spaces/places, allowing the photographs to become extensions and permeations of the building, simultaneously continuing and modifying form. This paper concludes with recommendations about how this approach could inform other media and disciplines, including the built environment, architecture, and design.