Chloe Ashley
Whilst at OSE, Chloe explored notions of the photographic in relation to the Isle of Thanet, and materials excavated from the landscape. Throughout the year, she researched archaic photographic processes such as fixing with sea salt and developing photographs with oak bark infusions. She also constructed obscure photographic equipment with ceramic slip casting techniques of darkroom apparatus, and further explored casting with photographic objects using materials sourced from the Isle of Thanet. Towards the end of her time at OSE, she undertook research into alchemy’s relationship with photography and ancient pre-photographic technologies. She intends to continue this investigation throughout 2018.
Within her collaborative practice, Chloe helped to shape the anthropocene inspired event strand for the public programme, and collaborated with Sara Trillo on a variety of projects. For ‘The Incomers Project’, Chloe and Sara constructed large-scale sand casts (Psammite) at the Lido Sands, the forms referencing automatic writing produced throughout the project’s previous sessions. These pieces were performativity excavated during ‘The Incomers Tour’. For ‘Spelunking’, Chloe and Sara led an experimental sculpture-making workshop inspired by stalagmites and stalactites. Divided into four sub-chapters, the day involved constructing a variety of cave formations from plaster, dye, found objects and ice, with the workshop culminating in a collaborative installation. For ‘Spelunking’ at Turner Contemporary, Chloe, Sara and Emma Gibson presented ‘The Handling Collection’, a performance which invited members of the public to scrutinise various archaeological and conchological finds, some of which possessed intriguing yet questionable narratives.