My favourite of the pictures is quite different from all the others. We've used it as the cover of this edition of the webmag. It is a long wide-format piece showing a row of tree trunks shooting up and off the frame at the top. The sides of the trees are covered in snow, and branches stick horizontally from the trunks. If you look closely, you can see that the picture is a fake, a trompe l’oeil. That the same trees repeat themselves again and again, across the picture. “All the others are prints from film that I have developed myself then re-mastered exactly as they were, digitally,” she says. “This one is a little different. A number of people have asked my how I achieved this result, but I haven’t told anyone. One guy who saw the exhibition sent me a hand-written letter with various theories he’d come up with about how I could do it, but I’m not letting on.”

The picture is called ’12 Days’. “The exhibition is called ‘The Twelfth Day’,” says Annabelle. “I spent 12 days in Finland, but also the number has symbolic importance. It is a circular number, and has spiritual power. In recovery programmes the twelfth step is the one where the addicts have enough faith to transcend the addiction they had.” AL

Annabelle is represented by the Victor Felix Gallery in London. You can see more examples of her work on www.annabellenicoll.com