Buildings, where murders have taken place
A series of four A5 aquatints of London buildings with a small story of murder behind them.
I tried to capture mysterious atmosphere, focusing on small enigmatic details that would remind of its past, but not making the setting exaggeratedly scary or dark. As no matter what, the life still goes on, and these buildings have "seen" other things too.
An English playwright, author and diarist, amused and shocked audience with his scandalous black comedies. On 9 August 1967, his partner Kenneth Halliwell bludgeoned 34-year-old Orton to death at their home in Islington, London, with nine hammer blows to the head, and then killed himself with an overdose of Nembutal. He left a suicide note: "If you read his diary, all will be explained. PS: Especially the latter part.”
David Blakely, Ruth Ellis's boyfriend
Magdala, also known as Magdala Tavern or colloquially as simply The Magy, was a public house in Hampstead. It later became famous as the pub where Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed in Great Britain, shot her boyfriend in 1955.
She was a British journalist, television presenter and newsreader. She spent most of her career at the BBC News. As she approached her front door on 26th of April 1999, a man grabbed her from behind, forced her to the ground and shot her in the head with a 9mm calibre semi-automatic pistol. The case remains open.
Sandra Rivett, the nanny of Lord Lucan's children
On 7 November 1974, Lord Lucan bludgeoned the nanny to death with a piece of bandaged lead pipe, then placed her body into a canvas mailbag. Meanwhile, looking for her nanny, Lady Lucan descended from the first floor to see what had happened in the basement. But the murderer attacked her too. Lady Lucan recognised her husband by his voice. She bit his fingers, and when he threw her face down to the carpet, managed to turn around and squeeze his testicles, causing him to release his grip on her throat and give up the fight. When she asked where Rivett was, Lucan was at first evasive, but eventually admitted to having killed her. Terrified, Lady Lucan told him she could help him escape if only he would remain at the house for a few days, to allow her injuries to heal. Lord Lucan walked upstairs and sent his daughter to bed, then went into one of the bedrooms.
When Lucan's wife entered, to lie on the bed, he told her to put towels down first to avoid staining the bedding. He went to the bathroom to get a wet towel, supposedly to clean Veronica's face. Lady Lucan realised her husband would be unable to hear her from the bathroom, and made her escape, running outside to a nearby public house, the Plumbers Arms.
Lord Lucan had disappeared, and was declared legally dead in October 1999.
The Process
First two aquatints were etched from life, without any preparations, while two others took a lot of thumbnails.
Afterwards, every image was etched on the plate and put into acid. The next stage was planning and shading the copy of the etched plate with pencils. Finally, the plate was aquatinted and printed.
Thank you!
