A research project for the Sustainable Darkroom's Photographic Garden Residency. The research is an answer to the question of what a digital camera, and its corresponding image-making process could look and function like if ecological consideration were at the core of the design process. The “answer” takes the form of a functioning digital camera that is powered entirely by a small 5V, 1W solar panel, a customisable firmware, a low-power image-processing program, and this documentation.

/MarksMade/StainedLand/*.png is a fragmented story that invites viewers to rethink landfill sites as places where new myths are being created by using creative computing methods. A focus is put on two sites. The first is Stave Hill Ecological Park in Rotherhithe, a community led park on the remnants of the London timber docks and a domestic waste landfill site. The park’s hill was landscaped from rubble and domestic waste excavated from the site. The second is Beddington Farmlands, a new ecological park next to an operating landfill on the fringe of South London. The story tells of the creation and existence of new spirits of the land through the ritual act of preparing landfill sites, referencing the Irish mythological immortal spirits, the Aos Sí, who dwell inside hills, and the formation of earthen long barrows in Neolithic Britain which were ceremonious burial sites (Hutton, 2014). The piece comprises of a series of photos of landfill sites which have been engraved onto the glass of the greenhouse, two written stories presented on an e-reader, durational photography of plants from landfill sites presented on an e-ink screen, and a hypertext piece on another e-ink screen.

The two stories are:
1. Sidher The Truck Driver
2. The Stave Hill Burial Ground

The stories are based on the structure of the Immortals, a series of Irish myths. In these stories someone from the human domain is taken, or falls into the realm of the Aos Sí. During their time with the Aos Sí they learn something about life such that if they return to the human world, their perspective has shifted. (Williams, Chapter 2, 2016) In my modern re-interpretation, there are mythical creatures within landfills.

"Let tiredness and darkness engulf you. Learn how to move through the spirit world of seeds and find a path for I-Remnunt." Keeping Dreamseeds: The Death of the Antin is a interactive speculative fiction about cooking, dreaming and saving seeds. Play as D'lo, a grower and a chef, who has been tasked with finding a path for her settlement, I-Remnunt, after the death of one of their key crops; the antin. Explore the deserted ruins of a deserted London in the deep future through D'lo's diary and find clues to help you navigate a dreamseed ceremony and communicate with seed spirits. Find recipes from magical insects, read about ingredients that helped humanity through difficult times and find future recipes for your settlement.

This collection explores environmentally responsive digital photographic processes. All imagery was generated by a solar-powered, computational camera developed by the artist. Each image is created with a custom multiple exposure algorithm where the complexity of the generated image is dependent on the brightness of the sun where the image was taken.

Study 1: Multiple Exposures
2023
55x45cm
Screen Print on vegetable dyed linen
1/5

Study 2: Dithering
2023
100x80cm
Screen print on vegetable-dyed linen
1/3

Solar Camera
Electrical components
2022

Felix Loftus’ Avoid an ash, It counts the flash 0.0 is a mini low-power video game set in a 3D representation of a section of the trees in Fermyn Woods. You play the game as a forest sprite that lives in the mind of a child. Figures from forest-themed horror video games have been appearing in the woods the sprite lives in and are making the trees fade away. Browser-based mini-game created using Three.js. The landscape in the game was created from 3D photogrammetric scans of Fermyn Woods. The sprites in the game are from 00's Flash games.

SE(e)-ing Spaces, an exhibition presented by the photography collective SE(e)-ing and supported by Four Corners and Arts Council England, showcased photographic works from four young photographers who live in South East London. Each series has emerged through intergenerational dialogue between long-standing housing activists, lens-based artists and the exhibiting photographers. This dialogue took place during photography workshops, panel discussions, video calls and email chains over the past four months. We’ve shared knowledge of practical campaign work; discussed what is to come, particularly, along the Old Kent Road; spoken about the damaging effects on communities of the councils’ drive for growth above all else and have heard how campaigning is necessary to ensure that locals have a voice amidst all this noise. In preparation for the exhibition we considered how art and photography can help us to respond to this context. There are varying approaches on display here from celebrations of existing communities and connections to the local area, to cautionary pieces about what might be lost and the alienation of local people through estate regeneration.

In collaboration with Four Corners Film London

Conjuring MK Treescapes is a body of work exploring relationships to Milton Keynes’ trees today, created in collaboration with different community groups in Milton Keynes and exhibited at MK Gallery in June. The work presented is a story of the journey of a young tree spirit/boggart/sprite from MK, named Pan, who is forced out of their nascent state in the roots of the oak at the center of MK by the death of the tree. Each section of the story is inspired by memories shared by participants at the workshops. The story was presented with two photoseries that represent moments in the story. One photo-series was made with long-exposure photography of trees in MK during photographic walks and the second using plant matter collected on these walks and photographed using a digital photogram app developed by me.

Created as a part of the Branching Out Research project
Support from @radarlboro @mk_gallery and the wonderful Amy, Maddie, Alma and Róisín

The first attempt at 30 Days had some serious issues: I tried to cram too much onto a single esp32: didn’t have enough power from my solar panel or storage in the batteries; a bird pulled a solar panel of the camera off which allowed it to fill with water; etc. etc. It was made in a rush, but I learned a lot. Most of the time was spent learning mechanical design to make sure the camera spun when the handle was spun. This was a mixture of fusion360 and general workshop fabrication

Original Text: '30 Days' is an interactive outdoor media piece, an application of sustainable computing principles, and an experiment in bringing a public camera and signpost into common use where members of the public contribute to a growing image of the landscape.

The work involves two pieces: a solar powered camera on a platform that can be rotated 360 degrees by turning a hand crank, and a signpost with e-paper displays of the captured views.

'30 Days' is an experiment in communally imaging a landscape and the piece draws inspiration from the history of resistance to enclosure in Britain in the Otmoor Rebellion where commoners waited until the light of the full moon to access the landscape.

In reference to this act, the solar powered photographic system will build up images over a lunar cycle, stitching together images from those who have interacted during that period into a 360 degree image of the site.

Join us for the launch of '30 Days' with a workshop led by Felix Loftus, where we’ll discuss what it means to hold things in common, what responsibilities we need to take on when doing so and discuss the sustainable computing technologies and principles involved in creating the work.

Tickets are free, but booking is essential via link in bio.

An alternative take on the Ubuweb Archive inspired by Kenneth Goldsmith’s term ‘uncreative writing’ in which artists create art out of texts they find via ‘creative’ plagiarism and conceived in conversation with Laurent Yee ( @slink.sticky) on instagram ) This project was a way to get to grips with web scraping and data queries. Its not intended as a replacement to Ubuweb, just as a small app for stumbling onto expanded cinema.

30 Days is an interactive outdoor media piece by Felix Loftus which will run throughout June at Brixworth Country Park. An application of sustainable computing principles, and an experiment in bringing a public camera and signpost into common use where members of the public contribute to a growing image of the landscape.

The work involves two pieces: a solar powered camera on a platform that can be rotated 360 degrees by turning a hand crank; plus a signpost with e-paper displays of the captured views found on location, and also represented online here.

30 Days is an experiment in communally imaging a landscape, drawing inspiration from the history of resistance to enclosure in Britain and the Otmoor Rebellion – where commoners waited until the light of the full moon to access the landscape.

In reference to this act, the solar powered photographic system will build up images over a lunar cycle beginning on 1 June 2025, stitching together images from those who have interacted during that period into a 360 degree image of the site.

Visit Brixworth Country Park throughout June to see the work in action and learn more about permacomputing methodologies by exploring the online work below.