Auckland Festival of Photography presents 'The Dingos Noctuary' by Australian photographer, Judith Nagala Crispin.
Judith Nagala Crispin is a Canberra-based poet and visual artist, with an background in music. Her series is displayed on 8 lightboxes in the heart of the city to create a scene of spirit animals freely illuminating within the urban landscape.
Judith describes her work 'These works are made with a technique I’m calling Lumachrome glass printing– combining lumen printing, chemigram and cliché-verre. I began working this way while searching for my family’s lost Aboriginal ancestry.
These cameraless techniques respond to ideas taught to me by Warlpiri painters in the Tanami desert. They spoke to me of kurruwari, patterns in the landscape. Allowing nature to mark a canvas before painting, with dirt or tracks, an artist collaborates with Country. These Lumachromes are my response to kurruwari. Images on the page are generated, literally, from light, earth and flesh.
Lumachromes are created by arranging blood, clay, sticks, leaves, seeds, ochres, etc., with deceased animals or birds, on photographic fbre paper. Exposed 24-40 hours outdoors, while the sun arches east to west, colour is produced in the silver halide crystals. Before placing the cadavers or plants, I paint them with compounds like selenium or copper chloride to capture fine detail. Cliché-verre plates are coated with resists of wax or paint, or with seeds and dirt, then suspended above the print to create backgrounds.
Every hour, blood, condensation and other fuids are brushed in with a paintbrush. lltimately colour and form are manifested in these works, from light alone – not paint or a lens, or anything can can be controlled.
These works are deeply rooted in the idea of a shared language with Country– not an inherited language, gained through tribes, not something theorised by scholars, but a genuine connection between an individual and the ground they walk."
Talking Culture - Artist Talk
5-5:45pm Thurs 28 May
11-11:45am Sun 31 May
Judith will talk about her latest exhibition, The Dingo's Noctuary, as part of the UNSEEN Festival theme. Read more and Zoom in to join the talk...
Self Guided Walk
Take a walk around the waterfront exhibitions including this show each Festival weekend. Please download all information: Self Guided Tour 2020
