No.2 Diamonds in the Sky

My second image is of the Newfoundland Building at sunset. The colours of sunset show on the lower windows of the building and the top of the building is lit because the photo was taken early in 2024 during the Canary Wharf Winter Lights Festival. The building is depicted completely as photographed (except for the blurring of one person whose shape was visible through a window 😊).

I was inspired by Kehinde Wiley’s paintings of people where he often replaces the background with a decorative and meaningful background inspired by his subject.

I separated the building from its surroundings and created an imaginary sky from elements of the building. The pink stars are made from the lit elements at the top of the building. The moon, stars and ground pieces are all created from different window configurations.

The Newfoundland Building is sometimes referred to as the Diamond Building so I was inspired by that to title this work “Diamonds In The Sky”.

The diamond shape of 4 stars on the bottom left of the sky is made up of tiny versions of the “window diamond” stars and is in the form of the Diamond of Virgo asterism which is visible in our skies in the Northern hemisphere.

My other inspiration is Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Rooms exhibition at the Tate. The background is made up of two of my photos of the Infinity Room to reflect the infinite skies we all live under.