Fixing the Shadows: A photographic exploration of beginnings and endings

Cowling, Vanessa

Fixing the Shadows: A photographic exploration of beginnings and endings

Thesis / Dissertation

2023

Abstract

Fixing the shadows is a photographic project that focuses on processes of cameraless photography and seeks out new ways to work with darkroombased photography that I regard as less environmentally and personally destructive. I explore how methods of fixing an image trace can technically represent a form of mending, which I associate with the practise of care. The project is reliant on the reciprocal relationship between myself and plants, acknowledging plant agency. Fixing the shadows is also a personal project that began with the death of my father, and in this sense seeks to mend a personal grief. Together with students, family, friends and colleagues, I have planted and grown a sustainable photographic garden. It is a gesture of reciprocal practise to heal a small piece of ground, which is indicative of a larger world in environmental crisis. The exhibition is comprised of the garden, lumen prints, anthotypes, phytograms and a light installation presented in immersive form. The presence of plant life is traced through chemical processes of cameraless photography and the unusual colour emanations that result from its shadows. It is hoped that this immersive, dynamic exhibition will for a moment dispel fear and grief, bringing the viewer out of the shadows and into the light

Keywords

Fine Arts

Reference:

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Masters

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