Light Experiments / Madeleine Barnes

Identifier:FA.B54.2068

Dimensions:4 x 5 in; 10.16 x 12.7 cm

Creation dates:2019

Subjects: chapbooks, pamphlet bindings, photography, poetry

Description:Zine-style photo chapbook of visual poetry. Sewn pamphlet bindings. Letterpress printing and photography. "The photographs in 'Light Experiments' focus on bodily abstractions and the feeling of being estranged from oneself, one's surroundings, and even one's sense of identity. They are layered explorations of people and spaces that feel both familiar and unfamiliar to me. The photographs reflect the way visual, emotional, and physical moments are superimposed, using visual intersections to create a single image that becomes almost otherworldly. I experimented with light using the camera as my medium, seeking to evoke the same energy and sensations that language-based poetry might. In 'A Poet's Glossary,' Edward Hirsch tells us that 'the word "stanza" means "room" in Italian. -- "a station," "a stopping place,"-- and each stanza in a poem is like a room in a house, a lyric dwelling place.' I approached the nocturnal settings of these photographs as dwelling places, poetic atmospheres haunted and connected by a fleeting pulse of light, dream worlds and departures toward the unknown. Hirsch writes, 'Each stanza has its own distinctive features, its own music, and its own internal history that informs and haunts later usage.' Using the materials I had -- matches, sparklers, moonlight, sequins, timers, apertures, flash, motion, layers, levels, fabric, and of course, my camera -- I sought to bring this internal history to the surface of the photograph. This photographic chapbook has no linear narrative, and constructs an experience that will be different for every viewer. I conceived of 'Light Experiments' as an adventure -- a dislocating contemplation that aims to bend genre by challenging ideas surrounding what it means to write poetry." -- artist's statement