Inspiration
This artwork was inspired by the ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor. Associated with rebirth, rejuvenation, inspiration and light. She is the cosmic mother of the skies, sun, fertility, goddess of women, joy, celebration and love.

Technique
Hathor Cosmic Goddess was created by constructing a hand-cut collage using female photographic portraiture and the surface textures from planetary chemigram to represent a sun-disk.

The model's portrait was hand printed in the darkroom and then the chemigram- (made by painting onto photographic film and exposing it to light) added on top. I used typical household beauty products as resists and inks to paint onto the film to symbolise our everyday rituals and regimes. Once exposed to light, I manipulate the surface of the film and resists whilst developing in black and white chemistry, resulting in planetary-like surfaces I used as the sun disk.

I asked my model to pose for me with her arms in the air as if holding the sun. This represents Hathor’s role as a Sun deity but also mimics the main symbol used when referring to the sun goddess- a cow with horns.

The collage is then photographed and printed as a large-scale negative onto film.

After coating the handmade paper with light-sensitive chemistry, it is left to dry in a dark room. The large scale negative is contact printed onto the paper by exposing to daylight (UV rays). The print is then processed by thoroughly washing in water to remove any unexposed solution. It can then be hung to dry, developing to full density Prussian blue after 24 hours. Once the image is fixed it is hand finished with chemically painted and heat treated copper leaf, producing a variated patina of rich pinks, orange and gold tones.