Lewis Andrews moved to Leeds in 2016 to study a BA(Hons) in Fine Art at Leeds Arts University. After graduating in 2019, Lewis continues to work in Leeds. In 2022, Lewis completed his Postgraduate Fine Arts Degree also at Leeds Arts University, graduating with a Masters Degree in the Creative Arts. During his Master’s Degree, Lewis’s practice became deeply focused on the methodology of translating information and data from sources within science into artworks. Lewis has continued to work and build upon this method in his work constructing a theory of working called ‘The Informative Encounter’.
The ‘Dancers of a Circle from the Past’ series of photographic works is based upon two aspects of the Tregeseal East Stone Circle just outside of St Just, Cornwall, UK. The stone circle, comprising 19 granite standing stones, also goes by 'The Dancing Stones' or in the Cornish Language "Meyn an Dons" meaning "Stones of the Dance". Tregeseal dates back to either the Neolithic or early Bronze Age although an exact date is not known. Similarly, only little is known of the occupants who built the stone circle apart from being of a megalithic culture. The stones themselves are made of granite with quartz embedded within. Tregeseal is the only surviving stone circle out of three within the area that once stood along the east-west axis in the shadow of Carn Kenidjack to the north. The Stone Circle also aligns roughly with two barrows in the immediate area to the Northeast and the Isles of Scilly off the coast to the Southwest.
With so much still unknown about the circle, this series endeavours to highlight them as remnants of a time when they were a possible site of immense ritual which also remains a mystery. Light from our sun can dominate the landscape surrounding the circle when allowed to shine through the cloudy skies. The stones bask in the light when our sun shines through the clouds casting shadows which dance over the ground over the course of the day. A process which has been ongoing since they were first erected by unknown people for an unknown reason thousands of years ago.