Rifting 45º 67.5º 90º 112.5º

Simpson employs precise folding and alignment of photographic prints, secured by hand-forged copper limbs that extend the image into physical space. The angles—45º, 67.5º, 90º, 112.5º—dictate the viewer’s shifting perspective, compelling repeated visual recalibration. The technique borrows from engineering and printmaking, rejecting conventional photographic presentation. The result is a dynamic interplay of light, color, and form that resists static observation.

The work draws from the industrial legacy of Mynydd Parys, which operated from antiquity through the 19th century and was central to Britain’s copper production. Simpson’s use of its landscape connects the piece to regional economic history and the environmental consequences of mining. The copper limbs themselves echo the material extracted from the site, creating a literal and symbolic loop between origin, extraction, and artistic reconfiguration.

Simpson’s practice emerges from a British tradition of art that interrogates landscape as a site of labor, extraction, and memory. Rifting responds to the tension between natural processes and human intervention, situating itself within broader conversations about post-industrial ecology and the materiality of place. The work resists romanticized views of nature, instead presenting it as a palimpsest shaped by geological and industrial forces.

Rifting contributes to an evolving dialogue in contemporary art where photography is extended beyond the frame through material intervention. By embedding technical precision within ecological narratives, Simpson expands the possibilities of photographic sculpture. The work invites sustained engagement with the layered histories embedded in land and labor, offering a quiet but persistent critique of how we perceive and value natural resources.