The collection · DiffusionLab

A soot-blackened teddy bear hanging by an ear beside an Octopus arm coming down, 1962, gold leaf signwriting. Work 6236.

In flight menu illustration of an enlarger in a darkroom at a duty free counter, the early 1950s, handheld and crooked. Work 6229.

A paperboy dropping the sponsor's flyer before the late film, station identification frame, colour bleeding outside the lines. Work 6181.

A marquee with three tiers of bulbs, mosaic panel in glass tesserae, the cinema is a furniture shop now, low key studio lighting. Work 6172.

Flashed glass roundel of an eel made of neon tubing on a boat train platform, 1942, polished black glass with a reflection. Work 6166.

A neon-lit ballroom entrance on the pier, the summer of 1980, television variety show still, bare bulb flash head. Work 6139.

A neon lit Bund tower with a stepped copper roof under a fan of bulbs, the year the liner was launched, the glass came from a factory that closed, poster in Bifur capitals. Work 6132.

A neon lettering above a paybox on a recreation ground, museum register page, silver gelatin print unmounted. Work 6077.

A hand painted sign for a shop that sells nothing, kodachrome, peeling paint. Work 6055.

A cinema marquee for a film that does not exist, movie poster, rain, night. Work 6020.

A signal box with every lever pulled, available light, brass and dust. Work 5995.

An anthropologist examining a cast and a motel sign with a creature on it in a trailer park, 1995, sonar chart trace. Work 5983.

The early 1980s: an amusement arcade doorway beside a beach house in Japan, seaside postcard, Kodachrome 40 Type A. Work 5973.

A stripped-down welded signpost with no sign left, the second generation after the fall, panoramic photograph, warm highlights and cool shadows. Work 5944.

A service door with a stepped surround and a neon script over a hotel eyebrow, lacquer panel painting, Kodachrome transparency. Work 5934.

Somebody was sick: illuminated sign design of a worn smooth ring toss on a midway, 1976. Work 5933.

The last summer of the 1990s: tunnel book of a country station with a single lamp lit at a tobacconist counter. Work 5923.

A shadowed neon sign in three scripts in the year the river was roofed over, shot through a steamed window, long shadow into the foreground. Work 5920.

Flat spot colour printing of a robot handing over a ray gun and a starburst sign over a car wash, 1939, cathode ray glow on a face. Work 5917.

A glass of whisky on a case file under a corrugated awning, forty years from now, airbrushed poster art, practical lamps in frame. Work 5916.

A second-hand no diving sign on a post in the last of the light, the bicentennial summer, lifestyle advertisement photograph. Work 5910.

A foam spread across a pane of glass and a station break slide with the call letters in a sound stage with the doors shut, the late 1960s, super laid over a still. Work 5909.

This was the last one: testimonial advertisement of a poreless red and white ring buoy, the warning label years. Work 5901.

A photograph curling in a tray photographed as a traffic signal swinging on a wire, low-light photograph, bloom around a bright sign. Work 5893.

Point of sale display print of a stakeout in a parked sedan at the foot of a dark staircase, neon spill through a window, four by five colour transparency. Work 5882.

Perspective corrected photograph of a presentation rendering pinned up, rise on the front standard, Kodak Tri-X in daylight. Work 5872.

A comb with a missing tooth at a newsstand under a bare bulb in the summer of 1929, blued steel plaque, Shanghai GP3 100. Work 5829.

Grainy newspaper enlargement of a hand lettered sign at a town hall, fogged first frame, magicube flash falloff. Work 5805.

The atomic age, a robot with a neon grille for a mouth still in the original box, tungsten studio lighting, overexposed sky behind a fin. Work 5799.

A finned rocket on a launch gantry in the style of a bold neon letters on a pylon sign on a cereal box premium, 1935. Work 5789.