Alan Knox
About the Artist
Alan Knox is a Scottish visual artist and photographer currently based in London. He obtained a BA in Communication Design: Photography from the Glasgow School of Art and an MA Photography Arts from the University of Westminster. Prints from his Universal Sympathy (2015) project are held in the permanent collection of the Glasgow School of Art. His work has been exhibited internationally, including as a winner of the Daniel Blau Gallery 5 Under 30 award in London (2015); as an awardee of the Magenta Flash Forward prize at Division Gallery, Toronto (2016), as part of the jury selection of Festival Circulations, Paris (2017); as well as StreetLevel Photoworks, Glasgow; Lonsdale Gallery, Toronto and Kaunas Gallery, Lithuania among others. In July 2020 he was shortlisted for the Restart Photography Prize by Prospekto Gallery, Vilnius for his series The Memory of Deep Blue.
Knox’s 2020 series “The Eternal Return” weaves a non-linear, personal family narrative of loss, separation, and eventual healing through dreamscapes and mythic archetypes. In ancient alchemy, Sol Niger (Black Sun) symbolized the dark light illuminating the soul of the departed. Considered the first stage of the alchemical magnum opus—the pursuit of the philosopher’s stone—the Black Sun became an enduring symbol in art and psychoanalysis, representing enlightenment and heavenly bliss born from confronting loss. Comprising black and white landscapes, still-lifes, and personal family photos collaged on a windowpane to obscure the Sun’s light, the series explores photography’s alchemical roots. It invites viewers to decode the photograph as a trace of light and darkness, mirroring the cyclical nature of life and death. Just as dreams bring the departed back, the photograph offers an eternal return, its chemical trace carrying both joy and melancholy.
Alan Knox is a Scottish visual artist and photographer currently based in London. He obtained a BA in Communication Design: Photography from the Glasgow School of Art and an MA Photography Arts from the University of Westminster. Prints from his Universal Sympathy (2015) project are held in the permanent collection of the Glasgow School of Art. His work has been exhibited internationally, including as a winner of the Daniel Blau Gallery 5 Under 30 award in London (2015); as an awardee of the Magenta Flash Forward prize at Division Gallery, Toronto (2016), as part of the jury selection of Festival Circulations, Paris (2017); as well as StreetLevel Photoworks, Glasgow; Lonsdale Gallery, Toronto and Kaunas Gallery, Lithuania among others. In July 2020 he was shortlisted for the Restart Photography Prize by Prospekto Gallery, Vilnius for his series The Memory of Deep Blue.
Knox’s 2020 series “The Eternal Return” weaves a non-linear, personal family narrative of loss, separation, and eventual healing through dreamscapes and mythic archetypes. In ancient alchemy, Sol Niger (Black Sun) symbolized the dark light illuminating the soul of the departed. Considered the first stage of the alchemical magnum opus—the pursuit of the philosopher’s stone—the Black Sun became an enduring symbol in art and psychoanalysis, representing enlightenment and heavenly bliss born from confronting loss. Comprising black and white landscapes, still-lifes, and personal family photos collaged on a windowpane to obscure the Sun’s light, the series explores photography’s alchemical roots. It invites viewers to decode the photograph as a trace of light and darkness, mirroring the cyclical nature of life and death. Just as dreams bring the departed back, the photograph offers an eternal return, its chemical trace carrying both joy and melancholy.
The Artworks (Ashurst Art Collection 2025)
Shadow of the Sun
Giclee Print, Edition of 9
55 x 41cm
Giclee Print, Edition of 9
55 x 41cm
“As everybody knows, one never sees the Sun in one’s dreams, even though one is aware of a light far more luminous.” - Gerard de Nerval, Selected Writings
The Yew Tree
Giclee Print, Edition of 9 41 x 55cm |
Time 6
Giclee Print, Edition of 9 41 x 55cm |
By Any Other Name
Giclee Print, Edition of 9 55 x 41cm |
Partial Eclipse
Giclee Print, Edition of 9 55 x 41cm |
