Pamela Clarkson and Atta Kwami worked together with the AGAlab Amsterdam for the printmaking. For both sides it was an inspiring collaboration.
Pamela about her relief prints:
“The relief prints started at the Thami Mnyele Foundation Studio in Amsterdam, Summer 2016. I hadn’t intended to make prints but found some discarded lino with marks tooled in with a screwdriver (probably) by the previous resident. So I bought a few inks, and a roller, and made a baren from coarse string, cardboard and jiffy cloths. With Mary Hark’s tough, handmade paper, it was possible to burnish with the baren, whilst the paper was quite damp.
The images came from drawings of the window across from the studio: heavy drapes were reconfigured throughout the day, softened or harshened by light and shadows. Back in the UK I carried on to make nine prints (until the paper ran out) from the Bellamystraat drawings using a press and better rollers. But the first prints have a roughness that was impossible to replicate, so I stopped trying and came up with more nuanced interpretations.â€