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Rifting 45º 67.5º 90º 112.5º

Theo Simpson

2023

photographic

From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum

Contemporary

Dominant colour

Rifting 45º 67.5º 90º 112.5º is a 2023 photographic by Theo Simpson, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.

Who painted this?: Theo Simpson
When & what style?: 2023
Where can I see it?: Victoria and Albert Museum

About this work

Theo Simpson’s photograph *Rifting 45º 67.5º 90º 112.5º* turns folded metal and layered images into a puzzle of angles and colors. The piece plays with symmetry and obscurity, using copper limbs and diptychs to force your eyes to refocus again and again. It sits at the intersection of photography, engineering, and politics—Simpson’s usual mix. The title’s numbers hint at the exact folds and overlaps he’s built into the work. It’s a quiet rebellion against how we usually see landscapes. Look next at Theo Simpson.

The story of this work

Overview

Theo Simpson’s *Rifting 45º 67.5º 90º 112.5º* (2023) presents three folded colour diptychs, each featuring photographs of the Mynydd Parys open-cast copper mine in Anglesey, Wales. Adjacent copper limbs are fixed to create symmetrical overfolds, allowing the diptychs to interact in shifting configurations that form a new physical graphic. The images capture the mine’s illuminated surfaces alongside remnants of black smokers—deposits formed from ancient volcanic vents that exhaled super-heated acidic water, later neutralized by seawater to produce sulphur-rich crystalline structures. The work…

Read the full account in the museum source.