The images I chose to explore this idea through demonstrate various parts of the crown of a mature oak tree in the Hergest Croft Estate, in the Welsh-English boarder town of Kington, which also features as the subject of my project “Perceiving Phytochrome”. In part, To tilt the neck is an extension of this project, as it relates not only to the visual subject matter but also to ideas of looking-through the oak tree as if it were a lens to see the world. Suspended in the gallery so that the blue glass panels meet a generalise eye line, the audience is invited to view parts of the gallery and the corresponding artwork through the tree itself. It is also, however, meant to act as a stand alone piece that expresses its own intentions and ideas, as well as a different body of skills taken to produce it.

The panels were made as cyanotype prints on glass treated with agar-agar, a plant-based alternative of animal gelatine derived from red algae. The window was restored by myself with assistance from my dad, James, who entrusted me with the tools required to strip the paint, remove the original glass and putty, and finally to sand it down.