Description: 
George Kingswood “GK” is a fourth-generation alchemist. He is also a photographer ‑ yet unlike the way contemporary photographers use the word “alchemy” as a metaphor for their creative process, GK uses the word the way it was applied by fourteenth century European explorers of physicality and spirit. He explains how his lineage of alchemy originated during a period of fascination, when the invention of photography coincided with England’s Egyptian revival, the rise of secret societies, and spiritualism. It was then that GK’s progenitor, Abraham Kingswood recognized the inherent potential of photographic “light drawing” as a vehicle for insights into the transformative workings of the cosmos and took it up as the central practice for his “Great Work”.
 
As part of a research project focused on the Kingswood lineage and their photographic praxes, this presentation will offer an overview of the family’s nineteenth century magical traditions, theories, and activities and how they continue to be practiced today by GK, the last of the Kingswood family. Also provided, in GK’s own words, is an explanation of his family motto and its relationship to photography: “Ego Video Esse”, which translates to, “I see it into being.” As a result, attendees will discover a previously unexplored photo-historical discipline that’s based in ancient Egyptian mysticism, arcane transformative methods, and an in-depth investigation into how light and visual imagery have been used to speed up the process of human evolution.
www.photoalchemybook.com

Pre-Orders are available through the Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group Website