Installation and Sculpture > Edge of Sky

Natalie Hunter

Edge of Sky

2020-2021

5 Archival pigment prints on transparent film from 35mm negatives, turned aluminum, birch, light.
14" x 128" each print. Installation dimensions approximately 14' x 20' wall installation.

Edge of Sky is a unique photo-based transparent film wall installation. Over the course of many months, I photographed the sky throughout my everyday routine. Relying on the material staples of photography - light and time - and the sensibilities of sculpture and materials, I captured the sun as it moved across the sky unfolding through time using an analogue camera, light, and hand made colour filters. For me, the sky became a locator, and I found a renewed appreciation for sunlight as if affected my body and mind. I found myself looking to the sky very often in times of anxiety, stress, and vulnerability. Our relationship to the sky can be a universal human experience, but is different for every individual.

Printed on transparent film and activated by light, Edge of Sky drapes down the wall in cascading folds over hand made wall armatures. As if plucked from the sky, photographs hang in space while casting latent images of colour and light around the surrounding surfaces on the the wall. Depending on the time of day, the angle of the sun, or the gallery lighting, Edge of Sky appears different each time it is viewed. Shifts in light and air movement activate the installation in subtle ways. The viewer activates the installation through movement too. When standing directly in front of the piece, the physical images almost disappear and the images appear layered with themselves and the latent imagery on the walls. As a viewer moves around the space, the images appear in full view. Through this activation, you aren’t sure what the true image is; the physical photograph or its latent reflection. In this way, the sky is used an exploration of time and memory as a fluid, ever-unfolding experience.

Natalie Hunter wishes to acknowledge the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts in producing this body of work.