Jo Bradford

If not now, when. 2013 - 2025 (work in progress)

Living off-grid in a national park in southwest England, I explore nature, time, healing & family dynamics amidst deep climate anxiety. This 14-year project celebrates resilience in the wilderness. Time and my connection to my daughter, born via IVF after childhood surgeries, are central themes. My son, on the spectrum, rarely makes eye contact as our emotional experiences are captured by my camera. The photos reflect child-rearing challenges in a remote place and the unity between humanity and nature, offering solace amidst climate anxiety. This project is a testament to hope and resilience.

This is a small part of a larger body of work - to see a larger selection please email me

Cloud Forest - 2011 - 2024 (ongoing)

For 13 years I have made regular journeys on foot through a small pocket of Atlantic cloud forest that neighbours my home. This tiny patch of temperate rainforest is a globally rare habitat. The woodland is marked on early maps as being in the area of Holy Stock. Situated on the northwest plateau of Dartmoor, the v-shaped forest exists in a pair of deep river valleys, which eventually meet beneath its dense tree canopy.

TIME RUNS WILD, 2023

Pigment print from cameraless photograph.

Dimensions: 15 x 20 inches / 40 cm x 50 cm

Limited Edition of 25 +2 AP's

Signed by the artist on verso.

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WASHAWAY I, 2022

PHOTOSYNTHESIS, 2022

WASHAWAY II, 2022

Pigment prints from cameraless photograph.

Dimensions: 15 x 20 inches / 40 cm x 50 cm each

Limited Edition of 25 +2 AP's

Signed by the artist on verso.

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SOUL’S WARNING, 2022

ECHOING, 2022

LIVING PROOF, 2022

TRANSMISSION, 2022

Pigment print sfrom cameraless photograph.

Dimensions: 15 x 20 inches / 40 cm x 50 cm EACH

Limited Edition of 25 +2 AP's

Signed by the artist on verso.

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INSIDE DREAM, 2022

Pigment print from cameraless photograph.

Dimensions: 15 x 20 inches / 40 cm x 50 cm

Limited Edition of 25 +2 AP's

Signed by the artist on verso.

Buy this work

Pigment print from cameraless photograph.

Dimensions: 15 x 20 inches / 40 cm x 50 cm

Limited Edition of 25 +2 AP's

Signed by the artist on verso.

Buy this work

Pigment prints from cameraless photograph.

Dimensions: 15 x 20 inches / 40 cm x 50 cm each

Limited Edition of 25 +2 AP's

Signed by the artist on verso.

Buy this work

CANOPY, 2022

Medium/Process: Photogram on Instant Film

Edition Size: Unique: 1 of a kind.

Year: 2022

Archival mount in white wood frame with art glass.

Frame size 100cm x 100 cm

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Text by Gina Cross, 2022

“In recent years, Jo Bradford’s experimentation with unique photographic artworks has seen her using instant film – much like a polaroid. The process here happens in exposure times of just fractions of seconds. In 2022 she has taken a new direction and moved her creative practice out of the darkroom and into her garden.

Canopy was inspired by her increasing desire to spend time in green spaces with her children and their experiences of the Japanese tradition of Forest Bathing, lying under the tree canopy watching sunlight filter through the trees overhead.

Over the course of 12 months, she placed a single sheet of unexposed instant film in the branches of native tree species on each separate visit. Making split-second exposures to the light, she captured leaves fluttering in the breeze above the film. These explorations resulted in this unique record of the traces of the leaf shapes and colours in the fleeting moments of her exposures... all faster than the blink of an eye.

The small unique instant film prints were then gradually built up into this unique collage over the several months of making the exposures. Working as if with an unexpressed jigsaw puzzle that was forming up as the individual puzzle pieces were created one at a time and their position divined within the overall frame of the piece.

Canopy captures the essence of the various trees she worked with. Look for areas of Beech, Oak, Birch, Willow and perhaps you may even discover the Elderberries nestled in the composition.“

CONFETTI, 2022

Medium/Process: Photograms on Instant Film

Edition Size: Unique: 1 of a kind.

Year: 2022

Archival mount in white wood frame with art glass.

Frame size 100cm x 100 cm

Buy This Work

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Text by Gina Cross, 2022

“In recent years, Jo Bradford’s experimentation with unique photographic artworks has seen her using instant film – much like a polaroid. The process here happens in exposure times of just fractions of seconds. In 2022 she has taken a new direction and moved her creative practice out of the darkroom and into her garden. Confetti was created over the course of 2 months. Under cover of dark night skies, with only moonlight to guide her, she rapidly flashes split second exposures of light while showers of coloured petals flutter down in between the light and the film.

These explorations resulted in unique records of the moments she captured the traces of colour and light on to the paper, all faster than the blink of an eye.

The works were gradually built up into this unique collage over the several months of making the exposures. Working as if with an unexpressed jigsaw puzzle that was forming up as the individual puzzle pieces were created one at a time.”

OCEAN WAVES, 2022

Unique cameraless prints on instant film.

Framed dimensions 55 x 40 cm

One Of A Kind

Framed and signed by the artist on verso.

Buy this work

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Text by Gina Cross

“Jo Bradford’s most recent experimentation in the darkroom has been using instant film – much like a polaroid. The process here happens in exposure times of just fractions of seconds, as she rapidly moves her hands to mask light and apply coloured filters in between the light and the film.

These explorations performed in complete darkness result in unique flashes of captured colour as she traces light on to the paper, using masking techniques to allow varying degrees of exposure and colour saturation. The result captures her selected pure and varied colours on to paper, all faster than the blink of an eye.”

FUSCHIA, 2022

Unique cameraless prints on instant film.

Buy this work

One Of A Kind

Framed and signed by the artist on verso.

Buy this work

————————————————————

Text by Gina Cross

“Jo Bradford’s most recent experimentation in the darkroom has been using instant film – much like a polaroid. The process here happens in exposure times of just fractions of seconds, as she rapidly moves her hands to mask light and apply coloured filters in between the light and the film.

These explorations performed in complete darkness result in unique flashes of captured colour as she traces light on to the paper, using masking techniques to allow varying degrees of exposure and colour saturation. The result captures her selected pure and varied colours on to paper, all faster than the blink of an eye.”

Split Second Gradient Series, 2021

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‘Zero Hour’, ‘Daylight Finds Darkness’ and ‘Alternate Time Zones’ are C-Type Lambda print from original photograms.

51 x 41 cm/ 20 x 16 inches.

Photogram / Cameraless Photograph, 2019

Edition of 25, accompanied by signed, numbered certificate.

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Within the new collection of works in the Hours series we can see the smooth and seamless gradation of light and colour. The depth of colour is of course relative to the amount of time the light has been exposed to the paper in the darkroom.  Jo built small robotics to motorise moving masking devices that help her to slowly, almost imperceptibly cover the work during the prolonged exposure periods. The results are deep, dark hues where the light has reached the paper for the full hour contrasted with bright areas where the light was only exposed fleetingly for seconds or minutes to create mesmerising studies of light, time and colour. 

Both of theses works are available in editions of 25, for sale with Gas Gallery

“My studio has a large window that allows me to survey the changing light though the day as if on a cinema screen. ‘Zero Hour' is about the way the light in the summer sky changes from the moment the sun dips...until midnight, when it becomes a deep, rich black.” Jo Bradford

As is traditional in limited edition prints, prices increase as an edition starts to sell out.

Chroma - The Minutes Series

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This set of 6 interconnected works is created entirely in Bradford’s pitch-black darkroom. These studies of blocks of time and intensity of colour are the result of months spent resolving ways to overlap the intensity of light and depth of colour to work through the chromatic scale.

The set of 6 photographic prints is available in an edition of only 25. 5 sets will be split to make individual colours available to collectors, with 15 sets being sold as full sets only.

Please visit Gas Gallery for more details.

My most recent experimentation in the darkroom has been using instant film – much like a polaroid. The process here happens in exposure times of just fractions of seconds, as I rapidly move my hands to mask light and apply coloured filters in between the light and the paper. These explorations performed in complete darkness result in unique flashes of captured colour as I trace light on to the paper, using masking techniques to allow varying degrees of exposure and colour saturation. The result captures selected pure and varied colours on to paper, all faster than the blink of an eye. This unique, one of a kind, work has now sold. Commissions are being taken for other such pieces. Please enquire here.

My most recent experimentation in the darkroom has been using instant film – much like a polaroid. The process here happens in exposure times of just fractions of seconds, as I rapidly move my hands to mask light and apply coloured filters in between the light and the paper. These explorations performed in complete darkness result in unique flashes of captured colour as I trace light on to the paper, using masking techniques to allow varying degrees of exposure and colour saturation. The result captures selected pure and varied colours on to paper, all faster than the blink of an eye.

This unique, one of a kind, work has now sold. Commissions are being taken for other such pieces. Please enquire here.

Lumen prints on silver gelatin paper

Cameraless works on instant film.

For sale - enquire here

An exploration of colour in terms of their transmittance and reflectance spectra and the overlap between them.

Artists accordion book of 6 hand embroidered cyanotype prints on recycled paper with embossed covers made from repurposed painted board.

The scraps of silvery thread used in this project were found in short lengths scattered about in the corners of several boxes of my late Grandmother, Elsie’s, lifelong collection of craft materials. Elsie was a toy maker, her speciality was making Teddy Bears, but she could turn her hand to anything crafty. She encouraged and taught me to “mend and make do”. She never let anything go to waste, recycling and reusing where possible, keeping even the smallest bits of thread for use in another project. She saw the value in these small things as so many of her generation who lived through war-time rationing were accustomed to doing. She taught me to darn and patch favourite clothes and showed me how much it mattered that we appreciate what we have instead of constantly consuming fast fashion and plastic toys.

I’m glad to have been given the gift of her skills and her materials to share with my children. So many memories of our time together making and mending and so many more memories to make with my own children in the future.

ALTERED PLANES

JO BRADFORD | 'ALTERED PLANES' | NEW PHOTOGRAPHIC EDITIONS

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Unique, cameraless photographs, the chromogenic monotypes in the Altered Planes series belong to a larger body of work which seeks to destabilise the usual 2-dimensional viewing experience of camera-less photographs by disrupting the conventional photographic space.

Bradford's luminogram process involves recording the trace of coloured light and shade on photosensitive paper.

This new body of work aims to further express the relationship of the play of light utilising multiple instances of light and shadow on the work, achieved through the architectonic forms created by folds in specific areas of the luminogram. The placement is carefully designed to accentuate the gradients of colour by the positioning of the 3-dimensional folds. The result reveals as much about process as it determines form. 

JO BRADFORD | 'PORTALS' | NEW PHOTOGRAPHIC EDITIONS

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Eyestorm is excited to announce a new print release from British-born Jo Bradford. Eyestorm now present the first three prints in Bradford’s newest series, Portals.

The Portals pieces titled, Portals Teal, Portals Carmine, Portals Chartreuse and Portals: Orange are available for sale, more info can be found on Jo Bradford’s artist page on Eyestorm here.

Luminograms / Cameraless Photographs, 2017

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Continuum is about hue transitions and progressions.  My interest here has been in revealing the myriad of subtle hues that can be expanded out from what lies between the seven foremost colours of the rainbow.

Colour is contained within light. A ray of light can be conceived of as being divided, like a rainbow, into a continuum of hue zones. This continuum contains recognisable hues that shift gradually into each other. Each zone contains more gradients than the mind can distinguish. The boundaries between colours are not sharply delineated, rather there are ambiguous transitional areas that make up the hue continuum.  These transitions between hues are the focus of the new series: Continuum.

As with Autogenesis before, each of the six Continuum artworks contain a hue that is an exact colour match to a hue in the adjacent work in the series. The ruby red seen in the ‘Minium’ artwork is an exact match to the adjacent red area in the work titled ‘Incarnadine’, the turquoise blue in ‘Verdigris’ is an exact match to the turquoise in ‘Cerulean’, the cobalt blue hue appears on both ‘Cerulean’ and ‘Azurite’ and so on. Between these corresponding colours lie the intermediary colours for which the 6 artworks have been named. Somewhere between emerald green and turquoise blue lies the Verdigris hue; between turquoise and cobalt blue lies the Cerulean hue and so on.

The Continuum series speculates upon these intermediary colours as both distinct and interrelated. Through use of line, space and scale, the seemingly simple yet complex tonal progressions can be seen as an analogue for movement, change.

Consisting of 16 individual photographic prints, Liquid Light is made up of original cameraless photographs, each created by exposing light directly onto photographic paper in the darkroom through pigmented liquid and vintage science glass.  These works are photograms; they represent an ongoing interest and investigation into colour theory, optics and the surface tension created by the play of light in my darkroom. 

‘Liquid Light’ is a series of experiments in hue transitions and progressions made through coloured liquid. The more a colour resembles the clear illuminated colours refracted through a prism, the more saturated and pure it is said to be. I usually employ translucent coloured sheets to filter and separate the prismatic colours when recording the essence of the purest colour contained within light.

I was gifted a quantity of large science beakers for use in my ‘colour laboratory’.  This inspired me to investigate how coloured liquid would filter and transmit light. The volume of the coloured liquids employed allowed me to work with far greater depths of filtration than I was accustomed to with my usual thin sheets of transparent plastic. The combination of the depth of the liquid and the details of the hand blown vintage glass used in the exposures, have resulted in prints that have intense shifts of colour and extraordinary gradients between hues.

Luminogram / Cameraless Photograph, 2017

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My working environment is one of absolute solitude and darkness, a blind space where I can bend and shape light to form my imagery.  In the ‘Allegory of the Cave‘, Plato talks about the shadows reflected on the walls of the cave, reminding us that they are not real but merely shadows mimicking real forms.  My work mimics the forms of physical space through the placement of light and shade on the physical surface of my paper.

Plato used the word Eidos, to mean “visible form” also related to the words “shine, “shape” and “appearance” all of these words resonate with my work. 

Elements. Photograms / Cameraless Photographs, 2016

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I was commissioned by Eyestorm to create new art for Sir Terence Conran and Peter Prescott’s wine bar and restaurant, Lutyens, on Fleet Street in London in May 2016

The geometric lines and compositions are inspired by the modernist, art deco era architecture of the building, which was designed by the great British Architect, Edwin Lutyens in the 1930’s.

The compositions feature circles that were produced by shining light through glasses of Conran & Prescott’s Albion Wines to create the coloured orbs in the final pieces. The opposite colours are captured onto light sensitive paper in a completely dark room. Subjecting the paper to a process of chemical baths develops the latent image and fixes it for permanence.  

Luminograms / Cameraless Photographs, 2016

Sold Out - Enquire about secondary market here

Consisting of 15 individual photographic prints, Autogenesis is taken from original cameraless photographs, which are each created by exposing light directly onto photographic paper in the darkroom.  These works are pure photographs; they don’t represent an external reality, referring only to themselves. They’re essentially photographs of photography, with the photographic medium as the subject. 

Photograms of 4,565 Billion year old Meteorites.

2016

A key debate in photography is the question of the authenticity of the photographic image. Constructing Space investigates notions of truth intrinsic in our perceptions of photography of space. Our idea of space is informed by images from science’s forays into the Universe via space missions and telescopes. Many of the space photos we see are initially received on earth as raw computer data, binary code distilled into monochrome images and coloured-in to emphasise visual information. My aim was to make alternative versions of authentic space images.

I arrange the meteorite fragments onto light sensitive paper, making several exposures, one for each colour. The space-dust blocks light during the exposures to create the stars in my galaxies. Meteors are commonly associated with both the wonder of planetary formation and the terror of potentially cataclysmic extinction level events. Handling this interstellar dust I am intensely aware that the matter in my hands forms the very building blocks of everything we know.

When this work is presented without accompanying text, I am often asked, “What kind of telescope did you use to take these photos?” In considering the authenticity of my outcomes, the realism of the subject appears validated by the inherent perception of truth conferred by the photographic medium. When all is said and done, my pictures of the stars do posses some truth, as the direct indexical trace of the stardust used in their creation. 

The pictures in this gallery are cameraless in their creation. Known as photograms, they are a photographic printmaking technique that predates the invention of photography. 
 

Consisting of 4 individual luminograms, cameraless images made in a darkroom with filtered coloured light on light sensitive paper.

Dimensions of each print: 32" x 40"

Photographic Lamda C-Type Prints, mounted on aluminium behind acrylic

This series of cameraless works were made on vintage silver gelatin photographic paper that expired in 1984.

These unfixed lumen prints number in excess of 50 individual prints. 

A friend of mine gave me a leather trunk containing the remnants of her late father's black and white darkroom. He passed away shortly after the birth of her only son. Amongst the treasure in the trunk was a box of unexposed darkroom paper.  There were also scraps of paper, card, receipts and tissue paper. The box had dust particles in the corners as you would expect.

I decided to use the contents of the trunk to create a memory project. Shaking the dust onto the sheets of paper, I arranged items to represent doors and windows, which signified the arrivals and departures that had been occurring in this young woman's life.  After completing the work I spoke to my friend about the project for the first time and she found the allegories to doors and windows very meaningful as her father had been a carpenter, a fact I had not previously known.

Luminograms. 2010 - 2012

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Many layers of modulated light exposed onto light-sensitive paper, through plates created from protein gels of the Trichinella Spiralis worm.

Commissioned by Imperial College, London and funded by The Welcome Trust this project was part of the Beautiful Science Exhibition. First shown at the Brick Lane Gallery in 2012.

Lensless Molecular Imaging was produced with the scientific collaboration of Dr R White, at Imperial College London.  It was commissioned for the Beautiful Science Exhibition by Imperial College, with funding from the Wellcome Trust.

Dr White uses loosely the same sort of cameraless photography techniques in her scientific research into a parasitic worm called Trichinella spiralis, as I use in the creation of my cameraless art. She visualises proteins in her work using lensless photographic imaging techniques.

My artistic practice explores the effects of light on chemically sensitised paper, using experimental photography. I create art by ‘painting’ with light onto photosensitive paper in a darkroom. The process is also rooted in antiquated photographic methods but the work is cameraless in its creation. By splitting the visible spectrum I paint with the different colours of the rainbow. 

I made negatives using the protein gels supplied, from these I created chromogenic prints in my darkroom, using chemically sensitised paper. 

For more information about this project and to view the sketchbook and notebook entries for the work in progress, please visit the Beautiful Science Website, a link can be found on my links page
 

Luminograms, 2010 - 2012. 

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Multiple exposures of modulated light onto light-sensitive paper, through plates made from microscopic views of my Natural Killer Cells extracted from my blood. 

First shown at the Brick Lane Gallery in 2012.

Natural Killers was produced with the scientific collaboration of Dr Alice Brown, of Imperial College London.  It was commissioned for the Beautiful Science Exhibition by Imperial College, with funding from the Wellcome Trust.  

The Super Resolution Imaging equipment used by Dr Brown in her research into Natural Killer Cells is the most advanced and cutting edge imaging making equipment available today. 

By contrast my artistic processes are rooted in antiquated photographic methods. I explore the effects of light on chemically sensitized paper, using experimental photographic techniques, but the work is cameraless in its creation. I create art by ‘painting’ with light onto photosensitive paper in a darkroom setting.

Combining Dr Brown’s high-tech imaging techniques with my own low-tech methods makes for an interesting conflation of the history of photographic image making. After our initial meeting it was agreed that this project would be most remarkable and fascinating if the Natural Killer cells studied by Dr Brown in her work and then turned into my art works, were my own Natural Killer cells.

I gave blood to Dr Brown's team in order to set the project in motion. A few weeks later, I received the first of the monochrome images of my Natural Killer Cells.

From these monochromatic digital files I created photographic slides for use in a darkroom enlarger.  I then made chromogenic prints on light sensitive paper.

On her computer, Dr Brown views the cells she researches as groups of cells displayed in grids, with each of the cells coloured-in brightly to help with differentiation during her work process. These multicoloured grids of individual cells are only ever seen on her computer screen as she works. I replicated these grids for the Beautiful Science project. 

I produced a number of brightly coloured photograms of my activated Natural Killer Cells. To do this I filtered the visible spectrum of white light into its separate colours. I used the filtered light to paint with the colours of the rainbow onto light sensitive paper, using a different colour for each of the individual cells. 

For more information about this project and to view the sketchbook and notebook entries for the work in progress, please visit the Beautiful Science Website, a link can be found on my links page

Unique Cyanotype Luminograms. 2009

SOLD OUT

The pictures in the 'Cause / Effect' gallery are cyanotype luminograms, an antiquated photo-printmaking technique that predates the invention of photography. 

Cyanotype Photograms, 2010.

The pictures in the 'Stem' gallery are cyanotype photograms, an antiquated photo-printmaking technique that predates the invention of photography. 

Photograms of 4,565 Billion year old Meteorites.
2010

In May 2011, a digital copy of one of my Constructing Space photograms went into space on board the Space Shuttle Endeavour. See the blog pages for more on this story.

A key debate in photography is the question of the authenticity of the photographic image. Constructing Space investigates notions of truth intrinsic in our perceptions of photography of space. Our idea of space is informed by images from science’s forays into the Universe via space missions and telescopes. Many of the space photos we see are initially received on earth as raw computer data, binary code distilled into monochrome images and coloured-in to emphasise visual information. My aim was to make alternative versions of authentic space images.

I arrange the meteorite fragments onto light sensitive paper, making several exposures, one for each colour. The space-dust blocks light during the exposures to create the stars in my galaxies. Meteors are commonly associated with both the wonder of planetary formation and the terror of potentially cataclysmic extinction level events. Handling this interstellar dust I am intensely aware that the matter in my hands forms the very building blocks of everything we know.

When this work is presented without accompanying text, I am often asked, “What kind of telescope did you use to take these photos?” In considering the authenticity of my outcomes, the realism of the subject appears validated by the inherent perception of truth conferred by the photographic medium. When all is said and done, my pictures of the stars do posses some truth, as the direct indexical trace of the stardust used in their creation. 

The pictures in this gallery are cameraless in their creation. Known as photograms, they are a photographic printmaking technique that predates the invention of photography. 

In 2010 I took a Polaroid photo every day for 9 months using my large stock of expired 125i Polaroid Peel apart film. These are some of the images from that daily photo project which came to an abrupt end when my trusty old Polaroid 240 Land Camera stopped working

Photograms of 4,565 Billion year old Meteorites.

2010

The Constellations works were created in 2010 while I was Artist in Residence at Plymouth College of Art.

Settling, 2008

Cameraless Luminogram.  Original C-Type Print mounted on aluminium and set behind acrylic. 

Luminograms are created using a photographic printmaking technique that predates the invention of lens based photography. 

Working in total darkness in a colour darkroom, the process involves making cameraless pictures using just light and photosensitive paper. Developing and printing in a chemical process achieves the end result.

These works explore the concretisation of photography as an art form, using only the tools of photography to make images that reference only the photographic method and medium.    

KERNOW

2007

Unique cameraless photogram on C-Type paper.

Inspired by the landscape of Cornwall. This method of image making is an antiquated hybrid of photographic and printmaking techniques that predate the invention of photography.

Cliché Verre Prints. 2007

The pictures in the Urban Illuminations gallery are made using an obscure photographic printmaking technique called Cliché Verre. 

Cliché Verre Photograms. 2004.

A photographic printmaking technique that predates the invention of the camera.

Inspired by my work on my series 'Constructing Space", I used stencils, hand drawn elements and meteorites to create hybrid Photogram and Cliché Verre prints. 

This body of work tells the story of an imagined journey by early space colonists on their way to set up home on a distant planet.  These are the images they may have recorded on that journey into deep space.

Photograms of 4,565 Billion year old Meteorites.

Produced at the Natural History Museum, London with funding from the Fenton Arts Trust.

For more information about this project, click here

In May 2011, a digital copy of one of my Constructing Space photograms went into space on board the Space Shuttle Endeavour. See the blog pages for more on this story.

Photograms, a photographic printmaking technique that predates the invention of lens based photography.

The series is inspired by the early English practitioner of this technique, Anna Atkins