Recent works, at first glance similar to those made on the Taw or Findhorn, but radically different in the way that they have been created. The new images are constructed in the darkroom, made using light and sound and natural forms to create beguiling and extraordinary images.
Susan Derges was born in London in 1955. She studied painting at the
Chelsea and Slade Schools of Art in the seventies before turning to
photography and in particular, to the cameraless photography for which
she has since become internationally celebrated. Throughout her career
Derges has been engaged in a constant search to find new ways of making
pictures. There is a sense of excitement and experiment in both her
methods and her results, drawing on the first forays of the earliest
nineteenth century photographers to create images that are at once
instantly recognizable and yet not quite what they seem.
Since 1996 she has made much of her work outdoors working along the
length of the River Taw near her home in Dartmoor, and more recently, on
the River Findhorn in Scotland. These works were made at night, and from
the bottom up; by placing photographic paper on the bed of the river and
fixing a positive image of the view up through the water by shining a
flash gun in the dark with colour and tone provided by the ambient light
of moon and stars.
Alongside these we will be showing Derges' most recent works, at first
glance similar to those made on the Taw or Findhorn, but radically
different in the way that they have been created. The new images are
constructed in the darkroom, made using light and sound and natural
forms to create beguiling and extraordinary images.
Ingleby Gallery
6 Carlton Terrace
Edinburgh