The Shelter – From Thread to Light

It's hard to define this work because it exists between two ways of seeing.

A monumental linocut printed on translucent fabric is stitched together with a series of Van Dyke prints. Both carry exactly the same image, but each reveals it through a completely different language. One is built through carving, pressure and repetition; the other through light, chemistry and time. One removes material to create an image. The other allows light to uncover it.

Together they ask a simple question: can the same landscape ever truly be seen in only one way?

The decision to print the linocut on transparent fabric was never simply a material choice. It became an essential part of the work's meaning.

In its original form, The Shelter existed as a bold black-and-white linocut on paper. The dense network of roots and branches demanded attention. At first glance, it appeared almost impenetrable, overwhelming the viewer with visual complexity. That initial encounter with chaos was fundamental to the work.

Printing the same image onto translucent fabric transformed its character completely.

The structure remains unchanged, but its presence becomes quieter. Light passes through the fibres, softening the dense black forms. Instead of confronting the viewer, the image begins to breathe. What once felt heavy and overwhelming gradually becomes lighter, suggesting that complexity does not disappear - it simply becomes familiar.

The background has not changed.

Our relationship with it has.

This transformation reflects the central idea behind The Shelter: the longer we remain within complexity, the more patterns begin to emerge, and what first appeared chaotic slowly becomes a place of orientation - a place where we can finally feel at home.

An equally important transformation happened to the Red Thread.

In the earlier versions of The Shelter, the Red Thread appeared as a single red thread woven directly onto the linocut print, stretched between hand-set pins. It represented the first conscious act of finding a path through complexity - an individual gesture of presence, intention and human intervention. (You can read more about this experiment in << The Shelter Printfest 2026.)

As the project developed, that single thread was no longer enough.

It gradually evolved into an architectural form, constructing the shelter itself rather than simply passing through it. The thread became form. The gesture became place.

In this newest work, the Red Thread evolves once again.

It no longer exists as a physical thread. Instead, it transforms into Fields of Light, embodied by the suspended Van Dyke prints. These photographic images are the negatives of the textile background. They reveal exactly the same landscape, yet through an entirely different process. Rather than carving the image into existence, they allow light to reveal it.

Light replaces thread.

Illumination replaces direction.

The work no longer asks the viewer to follow a path. Instead, it invites them to discover their own.