Artist Statement:

My name is Michele Selway and I have recently graduated from Stockport University Centre in Manchester partnered with Liverpool John Moores University, with a First Class Hons. I studied on the BA Hons degree of Contemporary Photography, however found myself working is a less contemporary way due to the nature of my work.

I am interested in the presentational form of a photograph and it’s collaboration with the materiality of the image. These areas of investigation have been at the core of my work over the past three years and were essential to the development of my work this year. Through these themes I have been experimenting with alternative and 19th century photography, for example Wet Plate Collodion. I have been inspired by the interesting correlation between the powerful factors affecting the landscape (time/erosion/natural factors) and the effect that the 19th century processes that I am working with alter/influence the images.

My current work explores images as three-dimensional objects; created using the idea of concept led processing. The process opens the work up to a wider audience, encouraging one to feel a familiarity and desire to interact with the surface of the photographic image. I explore this through reflection, texture, touch, and smell and through the final presentation of my work.


My process: Wet plate collodion was the main method of photography between 1851 and around 1870. It involves flowing a sticky substance called collodion over either a piece of tin or glass, which is then sensitized in silver nitrate. The plate is then exposed, developed, fixed and then protected with a lavender varnish. It has to be damp all the way through the process otherwise it loses it's sensitivity. As the plates are made on tin or glass they are unique: there is no negative. This process engages the public in the history of photography and the process of development; we allow the public to view the magic in our dark room, as the image appears on the tin from negative to positive.










Artist Statement:

My name is Michele Selway and I have recently graduated from Stockport University Centre in Manchester partnered with Liverpool John Moores University, with a First Class Hons. I studied on the BA Hons degree of Contemporary Photography, however found myself working is a less contemporary way due to the nature of my work.

I am interested in the presentational form of a photograph and it’s collaboration with the materiality of the image. These areas of investigation have been at the core of my work over the past three years and were essential to the development of my work this year. Through these themes I have been experimenting with alternative and 19th century photography, for example Wet Plate Collodion. I have been inspired by the interesting correlation between the powerful factors affecting the landscape (time/erosion/natural factors) and the effect that the 19th century processes that I am working with alter/influence the images.

My current work explores images as three-dimensional objects; created using the idea of concept led processing. The process opens the work up to a wider audience, encouraging one to feel a familiarity and desire to interact with the surface of the photographic image. I explore this through reflection, texture, touch, and smell and through the final presentation of my work.


My process: Wet plate collodion was the main method of photography between 1851 and around 1870. It involves flowing a sticky substance called collodion over either a piece of tin or glass, which is then sensitized in silver nitrate. The plate is then exposed, developed, fixed and then protected with a lavender varnish. It has to be damp all the way through the process otherwise it loses it's sensitivity. As the plates are made on tin or glass they are unique: there is no negative. This process engages the public in the history of photography and the process of development; we allow the public to view the magic in our dark room, as the image appears on the tin from negative to positive.