Mirror Image – Hannah Hughes

In Hannah Hughes’s Mirror Image series, she explores the relationship between image and sculpture, focusing on the potential of negative space, where value can be found on the sidelines.

As Elizabeth Fullerton writes, “the artist uses sculptural strategies to convey a sense of mass, volume and even physical sensation. The works begin life as the overlooked negative spaces cut from photographic images. Using her archive of cut-out negative spaces as props, Hughes creates new forms from their shadows by projecting light onto diverse backdrops. The negative form becomes a sort of double negative as the shadow is made material. Existing hierarchies of value are inverted, turning the marginalised lacunae or fragments around objects into positive forms that take centre stage.

…Within the liminal zone between photography and sculpture, Hughes has invented a language of her own with a distinctive vocabulary of glyphic forms, varied textures and subtle colours. She shows us the thrill of the unnoticed: fragments, gaps, edges and negative spaces become worthy subjects.”