This project investigates transforming the medium, of the lens, into the subject. It aims to reveal an honest and intimate story featuring my grandma that raises questions about issues, such as increasing age and the neglect that stems from it. The piece takes the form of a performance that provides a personal window into the understanding of both subjects, my grandma, and the lens that I created through hot glass blowing. The interaction of the two aims to produce an unearthly quality by the means of a simple form and image composition.

In this project, I have focused on the tension and parallels between video making and a much wider history and culture of production of the lens. The lens is a transparent material which disperses or concentrates light. The early history of the lens dates to the Neo-Assyrian era when archaeologists found a 3000-year-old Nimrud Lens. It takes the form of a polished clear glass stone with a flat and convex face. The lens is the equivalent of 3 times magnifying glass; however, the lens contains various scratches and blemishes meaning it isn’t used for its intended purpose (Gerhard, C., 2021). The next breakthrough in the development of the lens was seen in the 1200s through spectacles. The history of a lens is fundamental in the process of the images we can share today. Looking at the early processes of lens production became the focus of this project.

To develop a better understanding of this medium and process, my work was split into three sections; historical and technical, glass experimentation and finally production of the video performance, which developed the outcome. Having established the basis of a historical and physical perspective for the lens, which is also pertinent to the medium through which the evidence collected will be looked at, it was necessary to reveal the technical process of glass blowing and the production of the optical tool. There are numerous approaches to the production of the lenses and endeavouring to understand how the medium is created allowed maximum exploration of the device and its techniques. Following research into the process used to shape glass lenses, preheated silica was used and shaped with specialised utensils (Eisen, G., 1916.). To create the desired shape of the lens the glass needed to be continuously rotated to ensure that it held its shape.

Following this, the performance piece could be investigated. I was able to use the ethereal quality of the glass lens to look deeper into the form of my elderly grandma. The light that is transmitted through the newly created lens is affected by the inhomogeneities of the medium. This evokes several questions that are left open-ended which are to be answered through the observer’s perception. Allowing for a sense of mystique and familiarity through the image composition quality, and the use of simple forms.