Rowena Hughes – Time Swims in Circles (Aristotle’s Lanterns & Heart Urchins)

Time Swims in Circles is a photogram made in the darkroom I set up on residency on the island of Spetses. It records the direct trace of shells collected from the island’s shores onto light sensitive paper. The forms are oval heart urchins and the objects known as ‘Aristotle’s lanterns’; the intricate pentagonal jaw structure inside sea urchins, five symmetrical pointed curved teeth that smoothly open and close and chew and selfsharpen with delicate mechanical perfection. The earlier work is concerned with the contemporary impossibility of purist geometric abstraction and is one of a series of paintings of complex pentagonal forms on worn and faded old book covers.