Image|Object: new approaches to three-dimensional photography
image/object: new approaches to three-dimensional photography
Karin Bubaš, Natalie Hunter, Karen Zalamea
January 27th - May 6, 2023
Opening Reception: January 27th 6:30-8:30pm
The Reach Gallery Museum
32388 Veterans Way Abbotsford, BC V2T 0B3
From the earliest days of the history of photography, there have been determined efforts to expand the medium into physical space and three dimensions. Devices such as the stereoscope, 3D movie glasses, and virtual reality headsets have offered ever more realistic three-dimensional photographic experiences, but these have largely remained in the domain of popular entertainment, intended to “trick” the eye into seeing a sculptural object where only a flat image (or a digital image) truly exists.
Recently however, a number of contemporary artists have begun exploring the potential for three-dimensional photography in ways that embrace and revel in the material qualities of photography itself – its palpable physicality, rather than its representational or symbolic capacities. This exhibition presents work by three contemporary Canadian artists – Karin Bubaš, Natalie Hunter, and Karen Zalamea – who each explore the potential for photographic images to be spatial, experiential, and material, but who do so in different ways and to different ends.
Curated by Adrienne Fast
This exhibition is part of the 2023 Capture Photography Festival Selected Exhibition Program
image/object: new approaches to three-dimensional photography
More documentation coming soon...
Natalie Hunter. Scent of the Sun. 2020
Scent of the Sun, made throughout 2020, is a unique photo-based transparent film wall installation. Over the course of one year I photographed the sky at different times throughout the day on each of the solstices and equinoxes. These celestial occurrences are anchor points in our seasonal and annual schedule. We feel shifts in our bodies and minds around these seasonal changes, and the sun’s light transforms how we feel and understand time. Relying on the immaterial staples of photography - light and time - and the sensibilities of sculpture and materials, I captured the subtleties of the light throughout the day as it changed on each of the solstices and equinoxes.
Printed on transparent film and activated by light, Scent of the Sun drapes down the wall on hand made aluminum and maple 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. The sensation of doubling or mirroring occurs in the latent images reflected on the walls surrounding the installation. Depending on the time of day, the angle of the sun, or the gallery lighting, Scent of the Sun appears different each time it is viewed. Shifts in light and air movement activate the installation in subtle ways. Hanging like laundry drying in the sun, the images sway with subtle air movement, bend and curl in space, and wash the walls in colour and light. In this way, the sky is used as an exploration of time and memory as a fluid, ever-unfolding experience.
Natalie Hunter. Edge of Sky. 2020-21
Edge of Sky, made throughout 2020 and 2021, 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 immaterial 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 it 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 as an exploration of time and memory as a fluid, ever-unfolding experience.