Script
Introduction & enquiry question
We live in a fast and digital world, yet there seems to be a growing interest in the handmade – on slowness, tactility, and visible labour. I want to explore the interplay between analogue and digital and what happens to the value of something when it’s made by hand, rather than by a computer?
Cyanotype
I began by experimenting with cyanotype, an old printing method, and noticed how creating images by hand felt different from digital editing. Inspired by Edd Carr, I made an animation from hand-printed video frames. Recreating this with a digital filter, lacked impact – showing the value in the hand-made imperfections.
With this in mind, I dug into the history of computers and tactility.
Jacquard loom
The Jacquard loom is an early weaving machine that is often considered the first form of modern computing. It uses a binary system controlled by punch cards – raising or lowering the thread – creating woven patterns. This historical link between thread and code made me think differently about textiles and their potential to carry digital information through physical form.
Shareer’s cross year
Shaheer Tarar’s presentation What to Keep, What to Lose had a strong influence on my project. It highlighted how every image we see is shaped by a computer’s decisions – constantly choosing what to keep and what to discard. As data is transmitted, it’s compressed again and again, cutting away information we’ll never see. Each pixelated image is a result of loss decided by the computer.
In defense of the poor image
In Defence of the Poor Image (2019) the author argues that low-resolution images are cultural artefacts rather than worthless. As these images go through repeated compression, format changes, and sharing, they lose resolution but gain significance. Steyerl challenges the idea that poor images lack value, showing their journey as human and meaningful.
Abstraction & my enquiry
Rozendaal describes abstraction as the removal of information – which is also how computers operate. I became curious about what happens when this abstraction is done by hand. What if a human, not a machine, compressed an image? Would the labour add value instead of erase it? How can intangible data be translated into tactile form?
I looked further into the underwater fiber-optic cables that transmit data using light pulses.
Map of underwater cables photo
This image is a screenshot from the website showing a map of all cables.
What if i took this image, divided it into squares and used my own human intuition to decide how to fill the squares / pixels.
What if i translated this into something tactile by using my own hands to create a knitted piece?
Underwater cable
Or this image of the actual cables that we never see but that are constantly relaying data overseas at the speed of light.
What if I pixelate this image until it is a grid?
What if I then manually convert these squares into either black or white, based on their tone of grey, creating a binary system.
What if I translated this binary system into a knitted piece using colour? using texture?
The movement of my hands imitating those of a machine. Mimicking the process computers perform in milliseconds, yet doing it by hand making the process timely and personal.
Enquiry answered
Unlike computers that compress instantly, manually compressing an image by hand – pixel by pixel, frame by frame – creates abstract, poetic pieces shaped by time and craft. It slows down and reveals the unseen journey of the compression of digital data. Holding these handmade pieces tells that story, turning what machines discard into something present and meaningful.