Lens Free
Lens Free
Jenny Tomlin
The Upstairs Gallery, Lopdell House
418 Titirangi Road, Titirangi, Auckland
21 May - 13 June 2021
Artist talk 1pm Sunday 23 May
Part of the Auckland Festival of Photography
Poster image: Jenny Tomlin, Magnolia Solar, 29.5.19 - 31.10.19
A 5 month exposure in my garden thru the magnolia. Attached to a swaying branch and left over winter until the spring growth pretty much obscured the view. Along with the intermittent water immersion from the Tiroroa camera, I'm becoming more interested in the degradation of the image by water and the break down of the photo emulsion. It's another echo in the solargraph process of an image being built up as the material breaks down.
Jenny works with early analogue techniques; pinhole, solargraphy and the lumen/photogram processes to investigate micro environmental transformations.
In solargraphy, a pinhole camera exposes over weeks or months, recording the sun’s changing arc in the landscape but also the partial disintegration from weather damage.
Lumen prints (UV photograms) use sunlight exposing through plants or objects on darkroom paper, forming a photogram. The strength of light, time period and the reaction of plant juices on the paper all contribute to a transformation.
‘I’m interested in introducing uncontrollable elements to the pinhole and lumen processes and using the results to explore further outcomes.’