George Rayner: Uneven Graining

Uneven Graining invites viewers to reimagine the conventional darkroom photographic print —a medium traditionally celebrated for its pristine surfaces, clean edges, and two-dimensional presentation. This new body of work by photographer George Rayner pushes against these conventions, embracing imperfection and exploring the sculptural potential of photography. In rejecting the rigidity of traditional display, he opens a dialogue between the image, the object, and the environment in which it exists. Handmade silver gelatin prints have been crafted with an intentional departure from the sterile precision often associated with analogue photography. Dust, marks, bends, and organic irregularities become part of the image’s language, reflecting a raw authenticity that mirrors the subject matter itself. By physically manipulating the paper, bending and collaging it into sculptural forms, the viewer is invited to encounter these prints as objects with depth and texture, echoing the dimensionality of the natural world they depict. These sculptural prints interact dynamically with their surroundings within the window of Traction Project Space. Reflected light dapples across their surfaces, mirroring the shifting tones found beneath a canopy. As light and humidity fluctuate, the objects subtly change, embodying the living, breathing qualities of nature. Just as trees grow, decay, and adapt to their environments, these works resist stasis. They transform, offering a continually evolving experience for viewers over the duration of the exhibition. The photographic paper used in the work is derived from trees, bringing the medium full circle to its material origins. By blurring the boundaries between the 2D and 3D, and by subverting expectations of what a photograph should be, I hope to challenge how we see not just what's included in frame but what's been excluded. Uneven Graining marks a return to more conceptual work following a year-long documentary project on young farmers in North Devon. Inspired by time spent in nature, this represents an evolution from observation to interpretation. George Rayner is an emerging British visual artist from Croyde, North Devon, with a first class BA(Hons) Photography degree from the University of Derby. After taking part in an Internship at FORMAT 21 International Photography Festival, he currently works with Studio KIND as Assistant Manager alongside managing his own practice. He specialises in analogue black and white print, a methodical and deliberate process that reflects his visualisations. Developing the conventional analogue photographic technique into one more ecologically sustainable, and allowing nature to have a play within his work. He explores his relationship with the environment through materialistic allegory in quiet landscapes with a gentle humour, in both still and moving image. His work often considers themes of climate change and unveiling man's impact upon the earth, and his interpretation of existence.