This series is based around the corsets that I found as I sifted through the heaps of clothing on the road along the top edge of Portobello Road and Brick Lane in London from about 1976-1989. They were discarded, stretched, mended and added-on through use and need. Very different to the garments in Helmut Newton's photos of the time. These held women in all their shapes. I found a bra that was the original patented design by Caresse Crosby of Black Sun fame- a handkerchief cut in half with narrow velvet straps. Some were to help conform to clothing standards, some to support- reminding me of Frida Kahlo-her underpinned beauty. The pain and stoicism. Some were worn to oblivion. Some were barely touched.
The images were made using large and medium format cameras with tri-x film.
The models were fellow artists and family.
The images were printed on silver bromide papers, agfa brovira and kentmere documents. The lith images were printed on Foma bromide paper and developed with Moersch easylith.
In 1988-89 I discovered alternative processes through a workshop held at the Victoria and Albert Museum. This series as well as morrissey super 8s and portraits ‘at home’ were the first images I made using cyanotype and kallitype. Recently I have used moersch lith chemistry for an edition of the complete edition of ‘strict tures’.
