Skorpe duo exhibition with Max Barel

Untitled

Installation, transparent photographic print, plastic film mounted on plexiglass 23.9x184, 23.9x133, 23.9x200cm

Shown at Gallery Cyan, Oslo, Norway (2020), Vulkano, Gothenburg, Sweden (2021) and Ålgården, Borås, Sweden (2022)

Untitled is one of the works presented in the duo exhibition Skorpe with Max Barel. The installation consists of three enlarged 35mm negatives mounted on plexiglass. The negatives were exposed to light prior to development, then scanned after being treated with a mixture of paint, water, soap, and chemicals. Physical decay is a deliberate element in the process, emphasizing the materiality and transformation of the photographic surface.

Suspended from the ceiling, the work slowly rotates in response to the movement of the viewer. Shifting light conditions affect the visibility of the image, making the viewing experience responsive to time, space, and interaction.

In Skorpe, Barel and Hestenes question the conventional function of photography by removing the camera body from the process and embracing chemical unpredictability. The resulting images hover between abstraction and recognizability. The work questions whether photography can produce a unique visual reality, or if repetition is unavoidable due to our inherent tendency to seek patterns and familiar forms.