Abstract

In this series a municipal park is documented at night using the artificial lighting found in the location to illuminate the subject. The sense of theatricality that the artificial lighting adds to the space brings to the fore possible relationships between photography and painting, with particular reference to the dramatic aesthetic qualities that can be found in the work of 19th Century Russian landscape painters: Ivan Shishkin and Arkhip Kuindzhi. These artists, unusually for the period in which they worked, chose to depict their subjects at night, heightening the atmosphere in their landscapes with the use of dramatic lightening effects. In these photographs, the parks, usually familiar locations, are at night imbued with a psychological charge that hints at a possible undercurrent of events that may take place there outside of daylight hours. Details: Series of six works, entitled, ‘Nightfall I, II, III, IV’ (2003) 80 cm x 100 cm, ‘Nocturnal Scene I, II’ (2003) 80 cm x 100 cm, colour c.type photographic prints, edition of three.