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Melanie King. Ancient Light
Exhibition
Melanie King. Ancient Light
10 Jan 2018 – 1 Feb 2018
Address
- Level 5 Sherfield Building, Imperial College,Exhibition Rd
- London
- SW7 2AZ
- United Kingdom
Ancient Light is an exhibition of photographs by London based artist Melanie King.
About
Through the production of these artworks, King considers how light from incredibly distant stars can be captured directly onto photosensitive film. These photographs were captured on travels to dark sky areas, including Kielder Observatory in Northumberland, Dartmoor National Park and the Lumen Art Residency in Atina, Italy.In this exhibition, Melanie encourages us to view the original negatives and corresponding silver gelatin prints from her “Ancient Light” series. To create these negatives, photons emitted from stars travel over millions of years through the void of space. The photon then travels through Earths’ atmosphere and through the camera lens, at which point the photon is physically absorbed by the silver halide crystals suspended in the film. When processed, the silver halide crystals turn black as they come into contact with developer and fixer. For Melanie, these negatives are as precious as a meteorite or fossil, as their material structure is formed by the passage of incomprehensible periods of time.
