CONSTRUCTED VOIDS
Image-objects of studio constructs captured with a contorted 4×5 digital view camera.
. . .
In the void that is our universe, darkness shines.
Nothing can be seen until light races in to push out the blackness.
Yet, light remains invisible, unseen as it flies past.
Our experience of sight is only that of perceived reflections.
Nothing is visible until light bounces off the surfaces that exist within the void.
Although the blackness appears to retreat, it remains, waiting patiently to again fill the void.
. . .
Constructed Voids investigates what photography records when it is no longer tasked with representing the visible world. The works originate as tabletop constructions of paper, plastic, glass, and metal, illuminated by deconstructed theatrical lighting and recorded using a contorted 4×5 view camera fitted with a vintage digital scanning back. By breaking the parallel relationship between lens and film plane, the camera ceases to function as a proxy for human vision and instead registers a photographic event produced by the system itself.
Time becomes visible not as a frozen instant but as duration and instability. Each exposure unfolds over many minutes as the scanning sensor moves incrementally across the image plane. Subtle shifts caused by heat, air movement, and material response are inscribed directly into the surface as zigzag formations often mistaken for digital glitches. These marks are not artifacts of code but physical evidence of time passing.
Exhibited as unmounted chromogenic prints held perpendicular to the wall, the photographs assert themselves as image-objects rather than images alone. Their unsupported surfaces curve outward and respond subtly to air movement and the viewer’s curiosity (a gentle touch), reinforcing the distinction between photographic experience and its on-screen facsimile. In this way, Constructed Voids positions photography as an expanded practice—one defined by constructed systems, temporal accumulation, and embodied encounter rather than depiction.