A unique collection of underwater environmental images & assets to resonate with your customers.
Author: Distil Ennui | Post Date: 30-01-2024The digital world allows for such easy manipulation. Not so with the organic forms created by analogue film, its very celluloid nature makes it far harder to create the deceptions so readily seen today by using Photoshop, AI or CGI.
Hello my name is Alexander James Hamilton and I am an artist. My work has always been centred around the medium of water in particular creating sculptural works underwater, and by recording those events on large format 8 by 10 inch and 5 by 4 inch analogue camera equipment. From the very beginning I have aimed to explore new forms of expression through research and process methodology with the techniques of analog photography used since 1850; inspired by pioneers of photography such as Henry Peach Robinson, Édouard Baldus and Gustave Le Gray.
'Ptolemy' dated 2015 from the series 'Oil + Water' investigating the effects of climate change in the forests of Siberia
8 x 10 inch transparency film plate, seen as the pinnacle of photographic quality.
As an artist I believe it is my role to make the concerns of art relevant to society at large, a crucial means for turning thinking into doing in the world; These works tread delicately between the art classifications of photography, sculpture, painting, lighting installation and land based works.
Never limited by the architectural confines of the art world, my practice engages the broader public sphere through interventions within natural landscapes and civic spaces alike, arts education, policy-making, issues of sustainability and ecocide. Global warming, plastic pollution and other human activity is disrupting the biological world in profound ways, pushing many species to the brink of extinction with unabated carbon emissions & biodiversity loss from every landscape on the planet.
My work has always centred around a core belief of the need for ethical guardianship of the natural world, every project undertaken aiming to reference a more circular future. I stated publicly many decades ago, today as in the past we fight battles over access to oil, soon those same wars will erupt over humanities hunger for clean water, this subject takes much of my daily thoughts, this the great fate of humanity has been a core element of my artistic manifesto from the very beginning. Water is such an important medium for me to continue exploring. Its environmental signature is a conversation that I have made a lifelong commitment to; that of fresh clean water unencumbered to all living species, and, clean oceans enabling their vital ecosystems to thrive; right now across vast areas around the globe they are barely surviving.
new website brand identity.
Recent projects include… in 2020 for ‘Renaciendo’ I worked tirelessly and single handed to re-open the last baroque Carmelita Convent in Spain still standing that had been abandoned for over 150 years returning it back to use to the community. Prof. Javier Poyatos Sebastián, Professor of Culture at the University of Valencia wrote ‘Creative Ruralism’ documenting the impact & importance of the project.
In 2021, I donated 20 ‘Visions from the shoreline’ artworks to help fund ‘Makers Place’ the first ever carbon neutral single use plastic & aluminium recycling facility to become operational in the Maldives. This project in particular references a lifetime of environmental projects that you can explore here.
In 1990 I founded the Distil Ennui Studio™ to allow me to offer a yearly, paid & fully supported artist residency program. The program focusses particularly on repurposing materials found close at hand, and how to make their own materials from scratch. Residencies always include open to the public design & recycling workshops and museum standard exhibitions. For 2 days of the week the resident artists must engage in direct community work such as helping repaint an old peoples home, or helping restore a culturally significant building, or artwork.
So far the project has helped guide over 450 artists, allowing them to focus & develop their process within the extraordinary studio environments I have created around around the world including the critically acclaimed ‘Red October’ and ‘Dark Vat’ that are having a continued seismic effect on the arts landscape.
the artist working in his water flooded studio.
The Underwater Image Library holds a visual diary and complete record of this 4 decade long journey in image & video format. These works have never been seen before outside of the studio walls and are not available anywhere else, they are exclusively available for ‘rights managed’ licensing to help create a campaign that will resonate with your audience, and in turn support my work and that of the studio.
If you would like to investigate a more detailed profile of past exhibitions & projects then please visit the well documented studio journal at www.DistilEnnui.com/Journal.
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