Impressions of Rome, 2022
The project titled 'Impressions of Rome; An investigation into material culture and weathering', explored graphical printing and cast-taking as site-specific medium which, from an artistic perspective, highlights the architectural potentials inherent in the patination and weathering of materials. Our aim was to explore how we can fundamentally understand our relationship with history, time, and nature through architecture.
In the work we investigated the weathering of Romes facades through 'impression-taking' - from its revered ruins to mundane backstreets, trying to capture their tactility and narratives.
The project was carried out in November 2022 in collaboration with architect Rosa Prichard at the Danish Institute in Rome.
Rome is a city of ruins and layers which has captured the imagination of architects, artists and writers for centuries. The city has been built and rebuild over millenia, and this history is present when you walk its streets.
The project collected physical impressions of the city's facades, using these as printing plates for graphical prints.
The series of impressions has been taken along Via Della Quattro Fontane - an axis which slices through the centre of Rome, providing a cross-section of the monumental and the mundane.
We were interested in how polychromy is used in Roman sculpture to show depth, and the deep-red colour which is used to show text engraved into stone.
