Fox Talbot's Articles of Glass (tagged glasses) by Cornelia Parker, 2017

For me it’s always about truth to materials, I’m not trying to depict anything or represent something. I want it to just be itself – Cornelia Parker Fox Talbot’s Articles of Glass arose from Cornelia Parker’s investigations into photographic pioneer William Henry Fox Talbot’s technological developments of the mid-19th century, and his extensive collection of glassware, now housed in the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library. By combining two of Fox Talbot’s experimental processes, the photogravure and the solar print, Parker has developed her own unique photographic language, producing images by exposing arrangements of Fox Talbot’s collections to ultraviolet light. In these prints, Parker uses the last remaining items of glassware belonging to Fox Talbot, which he famously used in his 1844 photograph, Articles of Glass. Rearranged into informal compositions and produced in line with Fox Talbot’s methods, Parker’s works breathe new life into these fascinating, historic objects. Thanks to The Bath Framer for their support for this display