A Sudden Extinction of Light, 2014. silkscreen on goatskin, acrylic, galvanised steel. Photos: Sam Drake

A drawing together of the nineteenth-century photographic iconography of hysteria and lighting designs of Alvar Aalto following identification of Aalto objects in the archives of the Freud Museum, London. The work’s title is taken from a photo caption used in the documenting/staging of hysteria by Freud’s mentor, Jean-Martin Charcot. The image illustrates how a hysteric woman might be induced into a cataleptic or lethargic state via use of a bright light.

Depicting five of Aalto’s iconic lighting designs; A110 (Hand Grenade), A881 (Snow Bell), A338 (Bilberry), A805 (Angel Wing), A331 (Beehive); the silkscreens collide the abstract designs and their colloquial names with the goat leather on which they are printed – goats being known simultaneously for their sharp peripheral vision and erratic behaviour. The surface texture of the aniline leather gives the illusion that the lights are also made of leather, bringing the lights into contact with the dark fields they inhabit.