Zoe Blain

As a printmaker and amateur coder, I am interested in exploring where digital and analogue processes intersect, especially around copying and printing.

When I was growing up my dad collected computers from hard garbage to fix or strip for parts. The dining table was often covered in cables and tiny screws. The motherboards reminded me of little cities and I remember wanting to collect or play with them. My interest in the material side of technology and nostalgia for obsolescent devices never really went away. I carry all the phones, MP3 players and Discmans I have ever owned from house to house. And I now have my own collection of broken parts I rescue from the side of the road.

This year I started exploring these interests through my art practice. I am teaching myself Python to convert video to ASCII-style terminal displays. I also print physical and digital fragments, such as screenshots, broken heat sinks and frayed cables, as cyanotypes and monoprints.

Through this work, my printmaking and coding practices are converging, inspired by the blue screen of death, hard garbage piles and the vast network of fibre optic cables that stretch across the ocean.