Who would have imagined old worn-out e-reader devices would end up being an object of art. That is how artist Antony Cairns got about expressing his sense of art, with the E Ink displays from the e-reader devices he procured serving as the medium, the website 1854.photography revealed. Cairns said he bought more than 500 second-hand e-readers, most of which have been via eBay. He said the very quality of E Ink displays that can carry an image for long without drawing any power is what got him attracted to using them for showcasing his photographs.

The way Cairns went about using the e-readers for showcasing his photographs was by hacking the individual e-readers to make them carry his images. He then suspended the e-readers within the screen and then removed the casing altogether to leave the bare E Ink displays. All of that might sound simple but you got to have that technical bent of mind to undertake such a task. Cairns said he managed to pull it off thanks to YouTube videos that he referred to for the task.

“Photography is endlessly linked to technology, it’s always moving forward with it. There are lots of ways you can reproduce a photograph, ways that are often forgotten about,” said Cairns while explaining the motivation behind his move. Apart from the role of technology in reproducing photography, the other aspect that too appeals to him a lot are ways to recycle and reuse technology and use them for his artistic endeavors.

Cairns also said using the e-readers was like using “the actual machine of the unique object of the reader”. “It’s more of a digital photobook than something that’s on an app,” said Cairns, describing his screens as “etch-a-sketch digitized technology”. He also said this was far better and more adventurous than the conventional method of using an app to upload his photographs for viewing via a phone or a tablet.

As for his object of interest, Cairns said he has always been drawn to taking pictures of cities and the various heritage sites and buildings they hosted. He lamented many such buildings are falling to the vagaries of time and have turned to ruins in the process, thereby making way for mega complexes in the new age. He also described how he would often sneak up to such places in the dead of night and take pictures using a digital device as he would almost always be turned away from taking such pictures citing security reasons.

Cairns photographs using E-Ink displays are currently on show at Tate Modern in Shape of Light: 100 Years of Photography and Abstract Art where 45 such screens are being used to show abstract images of global metropolises.

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