SHIFTING TIME
How to capture things in their ever-changing state? How can we catch movement? And, can it help to understand a space better?
When visiting the same place over and over again things will never be exactly the same, even if it might seem that way in the beginning. This is especially the case in the outdoors. During a period in 2023 the same location was visited multiple times. During these visits I got to experience it changing over seasons, but moreover, how that place could differ from day to day. At the same time, different flows of time became apparent.
With the introduction of clocks humans have become dependent on numerical-based time. We will count progress and process along the hours of a day, which turns into weeks, onto months and years. However, the organisms at existed at the location seemed to not adhere to expectations based on that human ideal of time. Then, what would an hour mean to a tree, and how would ants and lichens experience a week? Thinking about these questions, time becomes a fluid-like concept that adapts depending on the subject and circumstances. For example, when the wind lays low and birds aren't chirping away, we might almost be looking at a still image of timelessness. Which will be completely disrupted by the sudden introduction of an insect buzzing past.
Additionally, within the period of visiting small changes and unique events became more noticeable. Instead of a notion of repetition and the fastness of the outdoors. What at first seems like a repetition of the same things and the same movements, is in reality never exactly the same, but an ongoing chain of movement and changes. This moving on and shifting of patterns in life is what brings forth the flow of time.
While watching lifeforms move and change with their own pace, these works emerged as a way of capturing the moments spent together in space.
32,5 x 11 cm
47,5 x 11 cm
64,5 x 10,5 cm
32,5 x 11 cm
These images are developed on paper or fabric with an alternative photography method that is known as cyanotype. Cyanotype is a light sensitive solution of two chemicals, when mixed it's a bright yellow-green which turns blue when exposed to UV light. This process is suitable for capturing movement in space and giving an impression of the (weather) conditions during that period. The deeper the blue of the print, the longer it was exposed and/or brighter the sun was. On the other hand, the variety of shade and movement of the photographed subjects become visible in their white or lighter tones. The angle and distance from the sun to plant, to paper/fabric changes the image from a perfect photograph to it's shadow: showing a blurred and shifted after-image of a certain moment in time.
Starting with one-page exposures and eventually landing in a format of multiple exposures alongside each other, similar to a film roll. These film format works are created by exposing them to the sun at what felt like roughly the same amount of time. However, what might feel like roughly the same amount of time is in reality never close to clock measurements. This way, it is more related to what is experienced by the one holding the paper than to managing an exposure of equal timing.
What is exercised here is a close reading of space; at first the surroundings might seem uneventful and motionless, however, through close involvement and staying with certain elements the aliveness of a space is noticed and captured on 'film'.
Cyanotyope emulsion on cotton fabric, 529 x 70 cm