any which way ('speak modernity')

Stockham employs screenprinting to build complexity through seven distinct layers. Photographic halftones are combined with hand-drawn positives, each printed in CMYK process colors. Two layers of varnish are applied selectively to the upper cube form, altering surface reflectivity and depth. The technique mirrors her sculptural background, giving the flat print a tactile, architectural quality that resists easy reading, emphasizing materiality over illusion.

Created during Stockham’s tenure as Head of Printmaking at the Royal College of Art, the work reflects her long-standing engagement with print as a medium for conceptual inquiry. It was developed from her research into digital representation and spatial perception, drawing on her earlier training in sculpture. The print is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, where it is contextualized within broader discussions of design, technology, and visual culture.

Emerging from a period of rapid digital transition, the work responds to shifting definitions of reality in the early 21st century. Stockham situates her practice within a lineage of modernist abstraction while acknowledging the influence of digital tools that dissolve traditional boundaries between image, object, and space. The print engages with postmodern critiques of progress, using historical advertising as a foil to expose the constructed nature of technological optimism.

Any Which Way contributes to an evolving discourse on printmaking’s capacity to mediate digital experience. By integrating analog methods with digital source material, Stockham demonstrates how traditional techniques can be repurposed to critique contemporary conditions. Her approach has influenced a generation of printmakers exploring the material consequences of virtual representation, reinforcing print’s relevance in an increasingly dematerialized visual culture.