Magic Lantern reimagines a forgotten medium through a contemporary lens, transforming archival glass slides into an illuminated sculptural lamp. Drawing inspiration from the 19th-century magic lantern – a precursor to the modern slide projector, this work explores the intersection of memory, architecture and storytelling.

Sourced from a personal archive of black and white silver gelatin slides, each image originally used for home entertainment and public lectures has been meticulously categorised into themes: structures, gatherings, landscapes and crossings. These fragments of visual history are recontextualised within a grid system, inviting new narratives to emerge through their juxtaposition.

The grids are housed within a rotating structure, echoing the architecture of a traditional lantern. Internally lit with a diffused warm LED bulb, each panel offers a quietly immersive viewing experience. As the viewer navigates around the piece, the act of rotation becomes both participatory and contemplative, a slow unfolding of time, place and collective memory reframed for the present.