Arresting Light

This workshop will explore how the photographic Lumen process can generate images from the interaction of a light source, light-sensitive photographic paper and an object to create a unique trace of that object.

Lumen prints rely on the principle that photographic paper, if exposed to enough light, will produce an image without developer chemicals being required. The photographic paper’s colour continues to change the longer it is exposed to light, unless chemically ‘fixed’. Pluta instead asks: ‘What happens if the image is left unfixed and preserved in a dark environment?’

Participants are requested to bring two or three personal objects no larger than 20x25cm. Each object can be two or three dimensional. When choosing objects, consider how they might hold personal memories. Consider bringing a variety of objects that might be translucent or opaque and contain different levels of detail.

Izabela Pluta is a Polish-born Australian artist whose practice spans photography and installation while engaging with questions of impermanence and belonging. She lives and works between the lands of the Awabakal and Worimi in Awabakal Country (Newcastle, NSW) and the lands of the Bidjigal and Gadigal (Paddington, Sydney). Pluta’s first European solo exhibition, Variable Depth, Shallow Water, was staged in 2021 at Spazju Kreattiv, Malta’s National Centre for Creativity in Valetta. She has also held solo exhibitions across Australia and has undertaken international residencies in Tokyo, Barcelona, Paris, Belfast and Beijing. Pluta has a Fine Art undergraduate degree from the University of Newcastle, a Master of Fine Arts from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and a PhD from the University of Wollongong. She lectures in photography at UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture in Sydney.