The Looking Glass

The print below is the first in the series of a collection of works. This first print was made in response to the liminal work of Margaret (Megan) Watts-Hughes (the 19th Century Welsh singer and Philanthropist) who recorded her voice through a device she created, called the Eidophone on to glass plates, spread with a pigmented paste, with the resulting images of plants, flowers and landscapes. (These forms are known as Cymatics, from the  Ancient Greek: κῦμα, meaning "wave”) Two of these images have been redrawn in concentric circles for this print reflecting on the observations that the shape of sound is spherical. The discovery of the ‘voice figures’ – never reproduced in colour and until recently considered lost – presents a unique opportunity to revisit and re-contextualise a liminal figure in historical studies of sound and the voice through historical and practice-based enquiry and recreations.

The ‘Daisy Form’ on the right along with the ‘freeform’ were created by Margaret (Megan) Watts-Hughes by singing through her Eidophone and have been redrawn for this print with concentric circles using banknote drawing software.. The green images below are further forms created by Hughes eidophone technique. The lower right image shows our milky way, and has been hand drawn to create the two orbs in the resulting print, from a collection of vintage prints as a reference point. The different eidophone designs have been drawn in the lower left part of the print.

‘The Looking Glass’
32 x 45 cm
limited edition giclée print with blind emboss on Somerset paper,

Next
Next

Orchestra