Shift & Contrivances

The title of the series of work Shifts and Contrivances is taken from the book The Art of Travel Shifts and Contrivances in Wild Countries by the English polymath Sir Francis Galton FRS (1822-1911). Galton travelled extensively in Africa and Europe and wrote travel books and survival guides. The Art of Travel gives advice on how to survive in the wild and among other instructions contains a diagram showing how to construct a boat - which is the shape used in Malmros' Shifts & Contrivances series. For Malmros the shape symbolises travel, migration and exploration. The series comprises of mostly prints.  The printed element is often the starting point for a three-dimensional work; the prints are ostensibly prints (screen print, woodblock etc.) but are frequently only the blueprint for a practice that employs careful cutting and folding to explore the potential of repeated pattern, volume, space, surface and shadow.