Svitlo

About

In collaboration with Mira Matic and Kateryna Snizhko, Looiersgracht 60 is pleased to present the group exhibition, Svitlo. This exhibition brings together the work of 12 artists, including Nettie Edwards (UK), Cristina Fontsare (ES), Liz Harrington (UK), Poppy Lekner (NZ), Ky Lewis (UK), Anna Luk (UK), Sonia Mangiapane (AU/NL), Emilie Poiret-Brown (UK), Megan Ringrose (UK), Erika Gabriela Santos (US), Kateryna Snizhko (UA/NL), and Lauren Spencer (UK).

The works exhibited question the material and representative conditions of 21st-century photography. Employing a variety of mediums and techniques, the artists manipulate imagery, material, and the conceptual underpinnings of photography. This departure from transitional lens-based practices invites analogue and digital methods of image-making such as cyanotype, risograph, and experimental processing to expand the ideas of what the photographic process can be. Considering the semantic root of photography to mean drawing with light, these artists play with light as a tool of graphic expression, capturing the ephemeral, the unseen, and the momentary meeting of light, object, and gesture. The work on view moves beyond the representational aspect of photography and questions the relationship between light and shadow, perception and image, and the multifaceted potentials of reality.

Svitlo is the Ukrainian word for ‘light’ and follows an initial presentation in 2021 titled Struck by Light in which presenting artists came together to explore the expansive potential of light as a medium. The titular reference to light is also a nod toward the artists’ collective hope and desire for peace within times of darkness and uncertainty. The exhibition focuses on image-based work as a reflection of how various physical realities can be captured, remembered, and projected in order to imagine the greater potential of change.

The exhibition was initiated by participating artist and co-curator Kateryna Snizhko, whose homeland of Ukraine continues to endure the darkness of war. Funds realized by the sale of the artworks on view will benefit Zeilen van Vrijheid Foundation to support ambulance and medication funds for the victims of the war in Ukraine.

This exhibition is made possible by the support of Looiersgracht 60, Drimensa Decoratief Plaatmateriaal, Martin Zwaan Fotografie & Presentatie, Rocka Art Sign Druk, and Michael Valk transportation.