‘Little Punks III’, monoprint, 21x29cm

This is one of a set of small, monoprint sketches I have created from photos created by Eva Boda as part of a collaboration & discussion around urban & rural spaces, and how they can be managed for the benefit of both people & the regeneration of ecosystems.

Eva creates massive abstract paintings via various media – photography, frottage/monoprints, drawing, digital sketches – from a starting point of abandoned places and spaces. She has recently had a highly successful solo show at the Čin Čin Gallery in her home city of Bratislava.

She often cycles miles out from her urban dwelling into the nearby wilds that skirt the Danube to photograph these environs to feed her own projects.
Knowing well of my Tree Portraits she was kind enough to send me a number of photos of the trees from here, some of which had received attention from the local beavers!
Having recently christened a series of smaller paintings of hers from her recent exhibition ‘Little Punks’, the beavers involved and these trees I have printed here have also been given the same, ironic moniker which gently mocks the misunderstanding that beavers are a ‘destructive/disruptive’ force, when they are,in reality, the most positive keystone species we have available in this country, in terms of habitat creation and biodiversity.

Rendering these photos into monoprint extends not only Eva’s processes of deconstructing urban/lost spaces from photography into an organic field, via another hand, also juxtaposes the discussion from her urban settings into the wider environment, where nature can reclaim and repair, but also possibly show a balanced field where both humanity and nature can co-exist.

‘Little Punks III’ was in the 2024 Florence Contemporary Gallery show ‘Unbounded’, and was selected for the British Contemporary Printmakers at Delamore Arts 2024