The exhibition, “Touch of Nature”, will evoke selected excerpts from the work of artists using photography, representing different attitudes towards the natural world, while using historical techniques introduced in the pioneering days of photography.

The second decade of the 21st century is when the renaissance of so-called analogue photography takes place. In one concept proposed by Marianna Michałowska, it is an effect resulting from the saturation of visual culture with the ease of creating digital images; to put it simply, users of new imaging technologies have become bored with their ease. This is also the moment when the distinctiveness of the two ways of reproducing reality is clearly recognised: photochemical and digital. This historically earlier one, which dates back to the first half of the 19th century, stripped of the ballast of utilitarianism, became a field of artistic exploration. Quite quickly, however, those fields of exploitation of analogue photography which stemmed from a resentment for the past began to wear out, in which creators saw the technology itself as merely ‘artistic’, disqualifying the new technique because of its ‘opaque’ electronic pedigree. Paradoxically, the situation was similar to that of the 19th century, in which the invention of photography was pitted against painting, while recognising that painting was more noble because it was created by the human hand.

The moment when digital technologies ceased to be a mere technical curiosity and the quality of the images obtained with them became ever more perfect coincided with the moment when ecology ceased to be merely a field of natural sciences, becoming also an attitude of conscious use of natural resources. For many artists, this situation has marked a new direction of artistic exploration, where the use of a particular technique is closely linked to the transmission of content, signalling a problem related to the well-being of our planet. Alice Cazenave, Hannah Fletcher, Edd Carr have initiated a project, Sustainable Darkroom, in which they emphasise the problem of threats to our civilisation. They look for alternatives in photographic process technology based on environmentally benign compounds. Alice Cazenave will present photograms using the photosensitivity of chlorophyll in the exhibition. The image of the eyes, frozen on a geranium leaf, seems to be carefully observing our actions in relation to nature. Hannah Fletcher visually depicts the harmfulness of compounds used in photographic chemistry. At the same time, she is looking for alternative solutions by using photochemical reagents based on environmentally benign compounds of plant origin in his own or joint work with Alice Cazenave. Finally, Edd Carr will present his experimental film I am a darkroom, in which a combination of old photographic technologies and ‘trash’ practices is used as a pretext to tell the story of photography’s entanglement in its toxic legacy. It is not only the striking visual experiments that are important in this film, but Carr also explains his motivations for his pro-environmental stance. He also cites other artists who have similar strategies.

The slowness inherent in analogue techniques, with their simultaneous reference to the historical contexts of pictorial modes, becomes a pretext for Paweł Kula’s light-sensitive realisations. The impermanence of the technique using the photosensitivity of plant pigments (anthotype), the cosmic perspective of observing processes and their cyclical nature, becomes a pretext for the artist to reflect on time. A reflection that goes far beyond its physical nature.

Georgia Krawiec, on the other hand, repeatedly refers to her background entangled in the turbulence of history, which allows her to move within Polish and German culture. Using various light-sensitive techniques, she looks at her national identity. In the series of long-term luxographies presented at the exhibition, created by exposing oak leaves collected in Poland and Germany on photographic paper for almost nine months, she reduces the problem of their origin to abstract forms that form a surprising light-sensitive mosaic.

Anthotype is a Victorian technique developed by Mary Somerville and Sir John Herschel. However, it was quickly abandoned in favour of more permanent processes. Durability was a priority in the pioneering days of photography. For Mary Kocol, the use of this technique today becomes a pretext to reflect on the fragility of life. She expresses this in a series of portraits made after pandemic isolation, depicting her acquaintances and friends. The anthotype notebook, presented in the exhibition, is an image of the consequences of her explorations in this technique, revealing at the same time the almost limitless potential of the colour palette obtained from plant pigments.

A prerequisite for photographic images, both contemporary and ancient, is light. Paradoxically, in the anthotypical works of Jesseca Ferguson, who uses mainly sunlight to realise them, there are motifs that refer to the time of night: Moon, Owl, Moths. Their dark colours seem to emphasise the power of the motifs present in the photograph.

For many years I have been collecting organic artefacts: insect wings, whole insects, feathers, dried plants; or naturally mummified animals: birds, amphibians. Objects from this collection often become a pretext for works in which I use historical techniques. At the moment, I mainly work in cyanotypes, creating intimate objects and enclosing them in entomological showcases. In doing so, I attempt to recreate my own reception of the natural world, creating a kind of atlas of fantasy biology.

Marek Noniewicz, Bydgoszcz, 08.12.2024

The exhibition “Touch of Nature” will open on 23.01.2025 at the Municipal Gallery bwa in Bydgoszcz and will run until 16.03.2025.

Artists participating in the project:

 
Curators: Paweł Kula, Marek Noniewicz
Project coordination: Karolina Leśnik–Patelczyk

Start 23.01.2025, 6pm
20 Gdańska St.
End 16.03.2025