Margaret Ashman
Ebb and Flow
Photo Etching and Monotype
34 cm x 53 cm
Edition of 100, this edition number 1
2020
£375 (framed) £290 (unframed)
She is an experienced printmaker specialising in photo etching. Her work with dancers has led to ethereal images capturing fleeting moments and spontaneous bodily gesture. Her studies of deaf people signing have led to work in which she addresses issues of faith, spirituality and emotion.
Ashman has worked with the following deaf actors, choreographers and sign dancers:
the Japanese choreographer and dancer Chisato Minamimura, David Bower from Wales and the Cuban dancer Isolte Avila. David and Isolte are part of SignDance Collective International. Ashman worked with deaf actors Nadia Nadarajah and Zoe McWhinney on a project for an exhibition celebrating Shakespeare’s four hundred year anniversary in 2016.
New work continues her exploration of the human condition – solitude, inner searching and longing. Ashman’s most recent series of prints were developed from video footage of dancers (with their permission). The Ogamu series uses a low resolution filter to create a painterly style, further enhanced by blending several shades and colours of ink on the etching plate itself before printing. The Mori series sets a different dancer within an imagined forest allowing Ashman to explore the interplay of light and space.
Ebb and Flow for the exhibition Colour at ROSL
Ashman’s photo etching Ebb and Flow uses colour to highlight movement and to establish a dialogue between the two dancers within the image. On the left, a vibrant orange figure exudes power and energy; on the right a stiller figure depicted in soft black ink bends low, gathering force before her next upward trajectory. Painterly strokes of orange flow between the figures, which draw the eye from one to the other.
A section of soft green foliage between the two dancers acts as a foil to the stronger colours. The green symbolises hope and calm amidst the uncertainties or ebb and flow of life.