"name": "Distil Ennui Studio", "description": "Cultural & environmental projects, arts education, circular & sustainable design. The mechanics of water & light creating sculpture, photographic & installation works. Support & collect artist originals direct from the studio.", "image": "https://www.distilennui.com/userfiles/image/studio-cover-image.jpg", "logo": "https://www.distilennui.com/userfiles/image/Underwater-Butterfly-Flight-Swarm-0220-small.jpg", "url": "https://www.distilennui.com/", "sameAs": ["https://twitter.com/DistilEnnui","https://www.instagram.com/ajhamilton.artist/","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_James_Hamilton"], "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "addressLocality": "London", "addressCountry": "United Kingdom" } }

A collection of unique underwater butterfly prints

There are no changes made to the colors, no retouching or special effects applied to the image in post-production. From the very beginning I aim to set new parameters on research by restricting myself to the techniques of analog photography used since 1850; For this series using double exposure, superimposition and photomontage inspired by pioneers of photography such as Henry Peach Robinson, Édouard Baldus and Gustave Le Gray.

The butterfly is widely significant in different cultures; symbolising love, regeneration, fortune, freedom, spirituality and death. The connection Greek Mythology draws between butterflies and the souls of those who have passed away is of particular interest to me.

In 2008 I started to breed these remarkable creatures myself and through this process, a strong dialogue became apparent. This delicate creature undergoes an epic transition - unquestioningly embracing both her body and changing environment - expending energy on a huge scale to make it happen. It is as if she thereby asks us to accept the changes in our lives as abidingly as she does.

Imagining the whole of your life changing to such an extreme that you are unrecognizable at the end offers great hope to me. The original ’Swarm' series explored these themes through the introduction of water, believing that drawing on water's transient and destructive nature exposes the fragility of life and the temporary nature of our existence since it acts as both nurturer and destroyer; having the power to cleanse and reinvent or to drown and disappear.

For me 'Swarm' explores this subject in a hyper-real and painterly aesthetic created through interacting with the water's mechanics to paint the subject in light. It acts as a reflection on life and mortality and how it is fleeting, beautiful and ultimately, tragic.

I started to further explore these themes in 2013 with a new body of work titled ’Transparency of a dream’. A particular conversation with a curator was especially in mind, one from ten years ago in which the reproducible capacity of photography - its force and its failing, was scrutinised. I was provoked by the notion that a painting is intrinsically more valuable than a photograph primarily because of its singular uniqueness. To counter this perception I present this series of one-off transparencies printed only as a single edition artwork in an attempt to challenge the ideas concerning the spiritual and economic valuation of artworks and to create an exciting tension between their individual present and relinquished, reproducible past.

These differ greatly from the original 'Swarm' works; here an original scene was captured on a single 8 x 10 inch film plate with a parent butterfly specimen; these plates were then annotated and stored for several months until their children were born and matured, these siblings were then reshot over the top of the original plates. Creating a dream like sensation of descendants dancing with one another; something in nature that never occurs. These artworks differed with their appearance of sheer fluttering delicacy, ghost like scenes enabled by creating time delayed sculptural scenes underwater with painstaking intricacy, each piece is not only a unique physical entity but embodies an unrepeatable aesthetic efflorescence; representing the singular, ghostly event of artistic consummation performed through painterly liquid mechanics.

Original like a sketch or painting, these one-off artworks reverse the conventional parameters of photographic works. Blurring the lines between sculpture, painting and photography. Existing only as a single piece of 8 x 10 inch acetate and one unique edition print.

‘Blue Aberration’ dated 2013 from 'Transparency of a dream' 2013-2016.

One Unique Chromogenic Print; 63 x 63 inches / 160 x 160 cms . No Editions.
Printed on Fuji crystal archive paper, unmounted.
+ II Artist Proofs (each a differing size and execution).

Provenance: Sold direct from the studio with
encrypted NFC provenance tag, signature biometrics recorded in Catalogue Raisonné.

GBP £22,500. Delivery instructions taken once sale is complete.

Two generations of butterflies documented underwater on analogue 8x10 inch film plate. Shot on Sinar 8 * 10 inch camera with Rodenstock 360mm lens, Fuji Provia film.

‘Aberration No I.’ dated 2014 from 'Transparency of a dream' 2013-2016.

Two generations of butterflies documented underwater on analogue 8x10 inch film plate. Shot on Sinar 8 * 10 inch camera with Rodenstock 360mm lens, Fuji Provia.

Provenance: Sold direct from the studio, encrypted NFC provenance tag, signature biometrics recorded in Catalogue Raisonné.

Unique Chromogenic Print 160x160 cms on FujiCrystal archive paper, unmounted.

+ II Artist Proofs (each a differing size and execution).

SOLD

‘0813-010’ dated 2014 from 'Transparency of a dream' 2013-2016.

One Unique Chromogenic Print; 63 x 63 inches / 160 x 160 cms . No Editions.
Printed on Fuji crystal archive paper, unmounted.
+ II Artist Proofs (each a differing size and execution).

Provenance: Sold direct from the studio with
encrypted NFC provenance tag, signature biometrics recorded in Catalogue Raisonné.

GBP £22,500. Delivery instructions taken once sale is complete.

Two generations of butterflies documented underwater on analogue 8x10 inch film plate. Shot on Sinar 8 * 10 inch camera with Rodenstock 360mm lens, Fuji Provia film.

‘Plate 0813-029’ dated 2014 from 'Transparency of a dream' 2013-2016.

One Unique Chromogenic Print; 36 x 36 inches / 91.4 x 91.4 cms . No Editions.
Printed on Fuji crystal archive paper, unmounted.
+ II Artist Proofs (each a differing size and execution).

Provenance: Sold direct from the studio with
encrypted NFC provenance tag, signature biometrics recorded in Catalogue Raisonné.

GBP £8,500. Delivery instructions taken once sale is complete.

Two generations of butterflies documented underwater on analogue 8x10 inch film plate. Shot on Sinar 8 * 10 inch camera with Rodenstock 360mm lens, Fuji Provia film.

‘0813-028’ dated 2014 from 'Transparency of a dream' 2013-2016.

One Unique Chromogenic Print; 63 x 63 inches / 160 x 160 cms . No Editions.
Printed on Fuji crystal archive paper, unmounted.
+ II Artist Proofs (each a differing size and execution).

Provenance: Sold direct from the studio with
encrypted NFC provenance tag, signature biometrics recorded in Catalogue Raisonné.

GBP £22,500. Delivery instructions taken once sale is complete.

Two generations of butterflies documented underwater on analogue 8x10 inch film plate. Shot on Sinar 8 * 10 inch camera with Rodenstock 360mm lens, Fuji Provia film.

‘0913-07’ dated 2014 from 'Transparency of a dream' 2013-2016.

One Unique Chromogenic Print; 63 x 63 inches / 160 x 160 cms . No Editions.
Printed on Fuji crystal archive paper, unmounted.
+ II Artist Proofs (each a differing size and execution).

Provenance: Sold direct from the studio with
encrypted NFC provenance tag, signature biometrics recorded in Catalogue Raisonné.

GBP £22,500. Delivery instructions taken once sale is complete.

Two generations of butterflies documented underwater on analogue 8x10 inch film plate. Shot on Sinar 8 * 10 inch camera with Rodenstock 360mm lens, Fuji Provia film.

‘0913-021’ dated 2014 from 'Transparency of a dream' 2013-2016.

One Unique Chromogenic Print; 63 x 63 inches / 160 x 160 cms . No Editions.
Printed on Fuji crystal archive paper, unmounted.
+ II Artist Proofs (each a differing size and execution).

Provenance: Sold direct from the studio with
encrypted NFC provenance tag, signature biometrics recorded in Catalogue Raisonné.

GBP £22,500. Delivery instructions taken once sale is complete.

Two generations of butterflies documented underwater on analogue 8x10 inch film plate. Shot on Sinar 8 * 10 inch camera with Rodenstock 360mm lens, Fuji Provia film.

‘0813-012’ dated 2014 from 'Transparency of a dream' 2013-2016.

One Unique Chromogenic Print; 63 x 63 inches / 160 x 160 cms . No Editions.
Printed on Fuji crystal archive paper, unmounted.
+ II Artist Proofs (each a differing size and execution).

Provenance: Sold direct from the studio with
encrypted NFC provenance tag, signature biometrics recorded in Catalogue Raisonné

GBP £22,500. Delivery instructions taken once sale is complete.

Two generations of butterflies documented underwater on analogue 8x10 inch film plate. Shot on Sinar 8 * 10 inch camera with Rodenstock 360mm lens, Fuji Provia film.

‘Plate 0813-002' dated 2014 from 'Transparency of a dream' 2013-2016.

One Unique Chromogenic Print; 36 x 36 inches / 91.4 x 91.4 cms . No Editions.
Printed on Fuji crystal archive paper, unmounted.
+ II Artist Proofs (each a differing size and execution).

Provenance: Sold direct from the studio with
encrypted NFC provenance tag, signature biometrics recorded in Catalogue Raisonné.

GBP £8,500. Delivery instructions taken once sale is complete.

Two generations of butterflies documented underwater on analogue 8x10 inch film plate. Shot on Sinar 8 * 10 inch camera with Rodenstock 360mm lens, Fuji Provia film.

‘0623-002’ dated 2014 from 'Transparency of a dream' 2013-2016.

One Unique Chromogenic Print; 63 x 63 inches / 160 x 160 cms . No Editions.
Printed on Fuji crystal archive paper, unmounted.
+ II Artist Proofs (each a differing size and execution).

Provenance: Sold direct from the studio with
encrypted NFC provenance tag, signature biometrics recorded in Catalogue Raisonné.

GBP £22,500. Delivery instructions taken once sale is complete.

Two generations of butterflies documented underwater on analogue 8x10 inch film plate. Shot on Sinar 8 * 10 inch camera with Rodenstock 360mm lens, Fuji Provia film.

‘Plate 0913-010’ dated 2014 from 'Transparency of a dream' 2013-2016.

One Unique Chromogenic Print; 36 x 36 inches / 91.4 x 91.4 cms . No Editions.
Printed on Fuji crystal archive paper, unmounted.
+ II Artist Proofs (each a differing size and execution).

Provenance: Sold direct from the studio with
encrypted NFC provenance tag, signature biometrics recorded in Catalogue Raisonné.

GBP £8,500. Delivery instructions taken once sale is complete.

Two generations of butterflies documented underwater on analogue 8x10 inch film plate. Shot on Sinar 8 * 10 inch camera with Rodenstock 360mm lens, Fuji Provia film.

‘0913-006’ dated 2014 from 'Transparency of a dream' 2013-2016.

One Unique Chromogenic Print; 63 x 63 inches / 160 x 160 cms . No Editions.
Printed on Fuji crystal archive paper, unmounted.
+ II Artist Proofs (each a differing size and execution).

Provenance: Sold direct from the studio with
encrypted NFC provenance tag, signature biometrics recorded in Catalogue Raisonné.

GBP £22,500. Delivery instructions taken once sale is complaete.

Two generations of butterflies documented underwater on analogue 8x10 inch film plate. Shot on Sinar 8 * 10 inch camera with Rodenstock 360mm lens, Fuji Provia film.

‘Plate 0813-007’ dated 2014 from 'Transparency of a dream' 2013-2016.

One Unique Chromogenic Print; 36 x 36 inches / 91.4 x 91.4 cms . No Editions.
Printed on Fuji crystal archive paper, unmounted.
+ II Artist Proofs (each a differing size and execution).

Provenance: Sold direct from the studio with
encrypted NFC provenance tag, signature biometrics recorded in Catalogue Raisonné.

GBP £8,500. Delivery instructions taken once sale is complete.

Two generations of butterflies documented underwater on analogue 8x10 inch film plate. Shot on Sinar 8 * 10 inch camera with Rodenstock 360mm lens, Fuji Provia film.

‘0813-026’ dated 2014 from 'Transparency of a dream' 2013-2016.

One Unique Chromogenic Print; 63 x 63 inches / 160 x 160 cms . No Editions.
Printed on Fuji crystal archive paper, unmounted.
+ II Artist Proofs (each a differing size and execution).

Provenance: Sold direct from the studio with
encrypted NFC provenance tag, signature biometrics recorded in Catalogue Raisonné .

GBP £22,500. Delivery instructions taken once sale is complete.

Two generations of butterflies documented underwater on analogue 8x10 inch film plate. Shot on Sinar 8 * 10 inch camera with Rodenstock 360mm lens, Fuji Provia film.

‘0813-029’ dated 2014 from 'Transparency of a dream' 2013-2016.

One Unique Chromogenic Print; 63 x 63 inches / 160 x 160 cms . No Editions.
Printed on Fuji crystal archive paper, unmounted.
+ II Artist Proofs (each a differing size and execution).

Provenance: Sold direct from the studio with
encrypted NFC provenance tag, signature biometrics recorded in Catalogue Raisonné .

GBP £22,500. Delivery instructions taken once sale is complete.

Two generations of butterflies documented underwater on analogue 8x10 inch film plate. Shot on Sinar 8 * 10 inch camera with Rodenstock 360mm lens, Fuji Provia film.

‘0813-022’ dated 2014 from 'Transparency of a dream' 2013-2016.

One Unique Chromogenic Print; 63 x 63 inches / 160 x 160 cms . No Editions.
Printed on Fuji crystal archive paper, unmounted.
+ II Artist Proofs (each a differing size and execution).

Provenance: Sold direct from the studio with
encrypted NFC provenance tag, signature biometrics recorded in Catalogue Raisonné.

GBP £22,500. Delivery instructions taken once sale is complete.

Two generations of butterflies documented underwater on analogue 8x10 inch film plate. Shot on Sinar 8 * 10 inch camera with Rodenstock 360mm lens, Fuji Provia film.

‘0813-023’ dated 2016 from 'Transparency of a dream' 2013-2016.

One Unique Chromogenic Print; 63 x 63 inches / 160 x 160 cms . No Editions.
Printed on Fuji crystal archive paper, unmounted.
+ II Artist Proofs (each a differing size and execution).

Provenance: Sold direct from the studio with
encrypted NFC provenance tag, signature biometrics recorded in Catalogue Raisonné.

GBP £22,500. Delivery instructions taken once sale is complete.

Two generations of butterflies documented underwater on analogue 8x10 inch film plate. Shot on Sinar 8 * 10 inch camera with Rodenstock 360mm lens, Fuji Provia film.

‘Plate 0813-021’ dated 2014 from 'Transparency of a dream' 2013-2016.

Two generations of butterflies documented underwater on analogue 8x10 inch film plate. Shot on Sinar 8 * 10 inch camera with Rodenstock 360mm lens, Fuji Provia.

Provenance: Sold direct from the studio, encrypted NFC provenance tag, signature biometrics recorded in Catalogue Raisonné.

Unique Chromogenic Print 160x160 cms on FujiCrystal archive paper, unmounted.

+ II Artist Proofs (each a differing size and execution).

SOLD

‘0813-027’ dated 2014 from 'Transparency of a dream' 2013-2016.

One Unique Chromogenic Print; 63 x 63 inches / 160 x 160 cms . No Editions.
Printed on Fuji crystal archive paper, unmounted.
+ II Artist Proofs (each a differing size and execution).

Provenance: Sold direct from the studio with
encrypted NFC provenance tag, signature biometrics recorded in Catalogue Raisonné.

GBP £22,500. Delivery instructions taken once sale is complete.

Two generations of butterflies documented underwater on analogue 8x10 inch film plate. Shot on Sinar 8 * 10 inch camera with Rodenstock 360mm lens, Fuji Provia film.

‘Plate 0813-027’ dated 2014 from 'Transparency of a dream' 2013-2016.

One Unique Chromogenic Print; 63 x 63 inches / 160 x 160 cms . No Editions.
Printed on Fuji crystal archive paper, unmounted.
+ II Artist Proofs (each a differing size and execution).

Provenance: Sold direct from the studio with
encrypted NFC provenance tag, signature biometrics recorded in Catalogue Raisonné.

GBP £22,500. Delivery instructions taken once sale is complete.

Two generations of butterflies documented underwater on analogue 8x10 inch film plate. Shot on Sinar 8 * 10 inch camera with Rodenstock 360mm lens, Fuji Provia film.

All Rights Reserved © 1990 - 2025 Alexander James Hamilton, Distil Ennui Studio.