Antony Cairns has generously produced TYO3_017, 2019 Screen print edition, 2020, in support of Tate.

Growing up in the east end of London, and travelling to Los Angeles, New York and Tokyo, Cairns has been photographing the city as his main subject from the age of 15. Cairns uses analogue photography and shoots almost exclusively on black and white film. However the most characteristic aspect of Cairns work is in the printing process. He prints his own work using chemical-based techniques and experiments with light distortions, printing surfaces, and even electronic ink from e-books.

For Cairns’ Tate edition, an image from his TYO3 series, taken at night in Tokyo in 2019, has been silkscreen printed onto found coding form paper from the 1960s in three variations (Green Program Sheet, Black Coding Form and Green Coding Form). The coding form was used by programmers to hand-write lines of computer code. The silkscreened image has been printed to replicate the look of an inkjet print, playfully disguising the printing medium and blurring distinctions between printing techniques.