Eden 5
Photograph
2004 (made)
2004 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
This photograph - or more correctly 'photogram' - was made without the use of a camera. Susan Derges submerged a large sheet of colour photographic paper in a fast-flowing river near a waterfall at night. As the water flowed over it she fired a flash from above. The paper was then returned to a lab to be processed before any image could be seen. The resulting picture captures the intricate patterns in the pull of water, revealing the underlying patterns and forces within the natural world. Derges's working method combines elements of prediction and chance and is highly intuitive. As she has noted: ‘I wanted to visualise the idea of a threshold where one would be on the edge of two interconnected worlds: one an internal, imaginative or contemplative space and the other, an external, dynamic, magical world of nature’.
Derges studied painting at Chelsea School of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art, London. From 1980 she lived and worked in Japan, returning to Britain in 1986, bringing the influence of Japanese minimalism and combining this with her discovery of ‘camera-less’ photography techniques, creating unique photograms. Her art engages with the themes of alchemy, testing the inter-relation between the elements of fire, water, earth and air. Her beautifully-crafted images reflect a holistic system that encompasses the human psyche and finds its metaphors through the natural world.
The artist has had an ongoing relationship with the V&A spanning her career. Her first major series, Chladni Figures (1985) part of the V&A collection, was made by sprinkling powder onto photographic paper made to vibrate with sound, resulting in the shapes of invisible sound waves made visible. Her subsequent series Observer and Observed (1991); River Taw (1997); Ice (1997) and Shoreline (1998), also represented in the collection, continued to explore hidden forces and cycles of nature.
The two parts of the diptych Eden 4 and Eden 5 (2004), were acquired by the museum in 2015 and 2010 respectively. The pieces mark the end of a ‘golden age’ of camera-less, analogue and chemistry-based photography for the artist, who is now moving to digital practice. The work was made as part of a residency at the Eden project biosphere in Cornwall, which allowed her to combine her interests in scientific experiment and ecology. It is a unique photogram, made by submersion in a fast-flowing river near a waterfall. The complexity and variety of its wave forms in one image make it highly representative; it marks the culmination of the artist’s exploration of water as a medium and a metaphor. The photogram was used as a pattern to create an etched glass panel, as one of a set for the roof of one of the Eden project buildings, in which the theme of transition from water to steam, ice and gas is represented. As such, it can be seen as an element in the process of design manufacture as well as a fine artwork in its own right.
Eden 4 and Eden 5 were a centrepiece in the V&A exhibition Beneath The Surface at Somerset House (21 May - August 2015), as part of the Photo London Fair (21-24 May). The exhibition included a selection of approximately 200 ‘unseen’ historic and contemporary photographs from the Victoria and Albert Museum, shown in galleries situated on the banks of the river Thames. Images of rivers and water – implying depths beneath the surface – provided a metaphor for the richness of the collection.
Derges studied painting at Chelsea School of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art, London. From 1980 she lived and worked in Japan, returning to Britain in 1986, bringing the influence of Japanese minimalism and combining this with her discovery of ‘camera-less’ photography techniques, creating unique photograms. Her art engages with the themes of alchemy, testing the inter-relation between the elements of fire, water, earth and air. Her beautifully-crafted images reflect a holistic system that encompasses the human psyche and finds its metaphors through the natural world.
The artist has had an ongoing relationship with the V&A spanning her career. Her first major series, Chladni Figures (1985) part of the V&A collection, was made by sprinkling powder onto photographic paper made to vibrate with sound, resulting in the shapes of invisible sound waves made visible. Her subsequent series Observer and Observed (1991); River Taw (1997); Ice (1997) and Shoreline (1998), also represented in the collection, continued to explore hidden forces and cycles of nature.
The two parts of the diptych Eden 4 and Eden 5 (2004), were acquired by the museum in 2015 and 2010 respectively. The pieces mark the end of a ‘golden age’ of camera-less, analogue and chemistry-based photography for the artist, who is now moving to digital practice. The work was made as part of a residency at the Eden project biosphere in Cornwall, which allowed her to combine her interests in scientific experiment and ecology. It is a unique photogram, made by submersion in a fast-flowing river near a waterfall. The complexity and variety of its wave forms in one image make it highly representative; it marks the culmination of the artist’s exploration of water as a medium and a metaphor. The photogram was used as a pattern to create an etched glass panel, as one of a set for the roof of one of the Eden project buildings, in which the theme of transition from water to steam, ice and gas is represented. As such, it can be seen as an element in the process of design manufacture as well as a fine artwork in its own right.
Eden 4 and Eden 5 were a centrepiece in the V&A exhibition Beneath The Surface at Somerset House (21 May - August 2015), as part of the Photo London Fair (21-24 May). The exhibition included a selection of approximately 200 ‘unseen’ historic and contemporary photographs from the Victoria and Albert Museum, shown in galleries situated on the banks of the river Thames. Images of rivers and water – implying depths beneath the surface – provided a metaphor for the richness of the collection.
Object details
Category | |
Object type | |
Title | Eden 5 (assigned by artist) |
Materials and techniques | Ilfochrome (dye destruction) photographic print |
Brief description | Photograph, dye destruction print photogram, 'Eden 5', Susan Derges, Great Britain 2004. |
Physical description | Unique ilfochrome photographic print with wave forms, made by submersion in a fast-flowing river near a waterfall. |
Dimensions |
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Production type | Unique |
Gallery label |
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Summary | This photograph - or more correctly 'photogram' - was made without the use of a camera. Susan Derges submerged a large sheet of colour photographic paper in a fast-flowing river near a waterfall at night. As the water flowed over it she fired a flash from above. The paper was then returned to a lab to be processed before any image could be seen. The resulting picture captures the intricate patterns in the pull of water, revealing the underlying patterns and forces within the natural world. Derges's working method combines elements of prediction and chance and is highly intuitive. As she has noted: ‘I wanted to visualise the idea of a threshold where one would be on the edge of two interconnected worlds: one an internal, imaginative or contemplative space and the other, an external, dynamic, magical world of nature’. Derges studied painting at Chelsea School of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art, London. From 1980 she lived and worked in Japan, returning to Britain in 1986, bringing the influence of Japanese minimalism and combining this with her discovery of ‘camera-less’ photography techniques, creating unique photograms. Her art engages with the themes of alchemy, testing the inter-relation between the elements of fire, water, earth and air. Her beautifully-crafted images reflect a holistic system that encompasses the human psyche and finds its metaphors through the natural world. The artist has had an ongoing relationship with the V&A spanning her career. Her first major series, Chladni Figures (1985) part of the V&A collection, was made by sprinkling powder onto photographic paper made to vibrate with sound, resulting in the shapes of invisible sound waves made visible. Her subsequent series Observer and Observed (1991); River Taw (1997); Ice (1997) and Shoreline (1998), also represented in the collection, continued to explore hidden forces and cycles of nature. The two parts of the diptych Eden 4 and Eden 5 (2004), were acquired by the museum in 2015 and 2010 respectively. The pieces mark the end of a ‘golden age’ of camera-less, analogue and chemistry-based photography for the artist, who is now moving to digital practice. The work was made as part of a residency at the Eden project biosphere in Cornwall, which allowed her to combine her interests in scientific experiment and ecology. It is a unique photogram, made by submersion in a fast-flowing river near a waterfall. The complexity and variety of its wave forms in one image make it highly representative; it marks the culmination of the artist’s exploration of water as a medium and a metaphor. The photogram was used as a pattern to create an etched glass panel, as one of a set for the roof of one of the Eden project buildings, in which the theme of transition from water to steam, ice and gas is represented. As such, it can be seen as an element in the process of design manufacture as well as a fine artwork in its own right. Eden 4 and Eden 5 were a centrepiece in the V&A exhibition Beneath The Surface at Somerset House (21 May - August 2015), as part of the Photo London Fair (21-24 May). The exhibition included a selection of approximately 200 ‘unseen’ historic and contemporary photographs from the Victoria and Albert Museum, shown in galleries situated on the banks of the river Thames. Images of rivers and water – implying depths beneath the surface – provided a metaphor for the richness of the collection. |
Collection | |
Accession number | E.445-2010 |
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Record created | February 1, 2011 |
Record URL |
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