Final Prints and Mounting

The question of which middle image to use had been resolved in my own mind, and I would use the black and white self portrait. My reasoning for this was that the “unreal’ (psychological) landscape within which these young people (my own children) were being placed, was in many ways emanating from myself and my own fear and worries. This image of myself, appearing weighed down was clearly (IMO) the image that would best tie the three together.

Having got my bespoke mounting boards into the university I now had to mount the prints on to them, and then hang them for my final hand in. I arrived nice and early, partly to avoid a crush of the bus, but also to make the most of what was due to be a busy day. I intended to mount the prints using Spray Mount, and had allowed myself a quarter of an inch to trim.

The print on the mounting boards and in the gallery for assessment. 

The process of mounting the images was not an easy one. The Spray Mount had a tendency to ‘grab’ and adjusting the position of the print risked considerable damage. I found the easiest way to work was to spray the board and then offer it to the image (laid flat) this was really working blunt and it resulted in two of the images being slightly off, and leaving a thin strip of white (unprinted) paper showing. I was quite annoyed with myself for doing this after all my preparation, and retrospectively, I could had easily marked the reverse of the print as a guide, therefore avoiding the issue completely. Aware that there was nothing I could do at this stage, I accepted that it was ‘what it was’ and walked the prints to the gallery.

Once in the gallery I explained the mistake I had made positioning the print to my tutor. He seemed pretty easy about it, and suggested that it would be ok for the assessment, but that I should consider doing it again for the Free Range show. Installation was very straight forward. I had built the boards to be easy to hang and knew my measurements. I only needed to hang one of the prints, as the gallery is small, and the work would only be being assessed here (the main (graduate) show would be in July).