And, if we observe the present

S T A C K E D, M I S P L A C E D, E R A S E D

Multiple exposure images on vegetal paper, rubble

'C A T A L Y T I C, A S W A R M I N G CH A N G E'
Image on tracing paper 110 x 84 cm

'L I N E S, L I N E D, M I S A L I G N E D'
Artist book on tracing paper,
Scaffolding fabric

And, if we observe the present--
sensing, what is peripheral? Walking around with a friend, eyes lowered whilst
speaking, some weeds where the pavement meets walls, some new student halls unpeeled
from scaffolding, the looping grid of grey metal fences. The multiplying of ‘s’, the letter added
onto the end of most words, sheets of paper to be seen through from different angles, lines
changed as the layers etch into each other, blurred like the filament in a lightbulb as it warms
to a glow.

What word is an image? Think Catalytic the movement of building around us, the splay of
pages in a book, the apartments of future tenses. The swerve of light leaked onto 35mm film
where a document becomes memory, becomes ominous, becomes multitudes. When
‘multiplicity undermines the order of the system,’ what word is an image? Vulnerability brims

in eruptions of colour, and then we photocopy into near oblivion.
The loss of something we’re not quite aware of, Stacked, Mis-placed, Erased. The lines we
take for granted, in words hushed at the corners of pillows and streets, the often discarded
and overlooked, irrational feelings, mis-aligned with the images before us. The crumble of
stones on our hands as we push up off the ground.

(Catalytic, A Swarming Change, print on transparent paper, Stacked, Mis-placed, Erased,
35mm multiple exposure photographs, photocopied and printed on transparent paper, Lines,
Lined, Mis-aligned, handmade artist book, photographs on transparent paper, Kate McElroy)

Text by Lucie McLaughlin in response to work
Commisioned by Catalyst Arts as part of Future(s), Belfast Photo Festival, 2021