Past Exhibition
Invisible Jumpers by Joseph Ford
5 - 11 November 2020
I love optical illusions. With this series I have worked on matching people to their landscapes through custom-made knitwear.
The internet has spread a degree of cultural homogeneity. I enjoy exploring the contradictory notion of using individuals blending into their background with custom-made, individual garments, made slowly by hand in a traditional way. Knitting is the ultimate analogue medium, complete with imperfections and replete with detail. At a time when it is often assumed that anything out of the ordinary in photography is solely the result of Photoshop or CGI, it is satisfying to work with a deliberately slow, hand-crafted medium. The results aren’t perfect, there are bits that don’t match up.
Each of these pictures has taken me weeks to research and plan, and I’ve worked with an amazing knitter, Nina Dodd, who has hand-made all the knitwear. I have generally begun with an idea: ‘Could I photograph someone blending into cherry blossom, or into a cliff edge?’ Then I go looking for the perfect location, before working out a precise brief on exactly how the design should match the background.
The locations have to be eye-catching but simple enough to be able to be knitted. They also have to be places that aren’t going to change too fast, as the knitting takes a few weeks. It would have been terrible to prepare a sweater and then not be able to shoot because the location has been demolished.
Read our Q&A with Joseph here
View more imagery by Joseph by visiting his profile in Find here
Follow Joseph Ford on Instagram @josephfordphotography
The project has been published as a book by Hoxton Mini Press.
Follow Nina Dodd Knits on Instagram @ninadoddknits
Image © Joseph Ford