Installation and Sculpture > The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus - Centre 3

The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus, Natalie Hunter
The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus
2018

Installation at Centre 3 for Print and Media Arts
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Illuminated during the day with sunlight, and visible from the street at night.

January 1st 2018 - February 28th 2018

The Sun's Rays Do Not Burn Until Brought To A Focus is an installation of photographic objects that explore light, space, memory, fragility, and the history of photography. Using medium format film, transparent film, plexiglass, and other fragile materials, I attempt to explore light and space as it relates to memory, perception, and viewer experience. Drawing upon fiction and literature references on memory and light, this work considers the poetic metaphors of light as emotional and psychological indicators of space and time. Photographs of Hamilton’s historic Cotton Factory appear to float and sway, bend and curl, reflect and absorb light, and rest somewhere in-between motion and stasis, presence and absence, material and immaterial. Vulnerable to dust and scratches, light and humidity, air and moisture, these works continually change within their environments; offering a temporal experience of photography for the viewer. As the sun moves across the sky, or a sudden gust of wind sweeps the photographs aside, each work is animated with their own ephemeral rhythm. Illuminated during the day by sunlight, and visible from the street at night the installation exists between night and day, inside and outside, presence and absence. The experience of the work changes according to light and viewer location.