“It's not destroying. It's making something new.”....

Alex Garland’s movie Annihilation came out in 2018. For various myopic reasons it wasn’t given a cinematic release in the UK. Fortunately I was able to see it on a big screen here in London, with Alex and score composers Geoff Barrow, Ben Salisbury in attendance for a Q&A after. It was incredible.

To say I fell in love with the movie is an understatement. There is who you are prior to the movie, and who you are after, like any event, particularly if you release yourself and fully embrace the work.

One of the most rewarding (and respectful) aspects about the movie was that like the characters in it, you had to search for the answers too. You were on a journey also, you were also changing as they did. The movie made you work for an understanding, just like this poster and the font. Initially it may seem illegible, but work with it and it soon becomes clear.

The experience is enhanced with the concept of ‘refraction’ where individual elements begin to affect each other, and from that interaction create something new. I felt compelled to create an alternative poster based on the movie and my Phyre Etching technique I’ve been developing.

The result is ‘Annihilation '/ Refracted’, my homage to the experience and flood of overwhelming emotions whilst watching the movie. Overwhelming, but beautiful and most importantly organic, reclaiming nature in a world where humanity seems to be running away from it.

The process involves burning, melting, scanning and creating a new font ‘Nocturne Refracted’ for the lettering (currently making a working font family of it), so it’s all the facets of my creative career blending, and morphing into something new. I will be pushing this new technique much, much further… it will be beautiful.

Materials: digital file