2021 Siena Creative Photo Awards, Nature and Landscape series, Shortlist
Ley selected by Emma Bowkett and Zelda Cheatle for Salon/21 at Photofusion
Occult forces of nature are evoked in antique magic lantern slides of British landscapes. Ethereal energy fields appear to be emanating like auras from trees and rocks. These picturesque views are seemingly inhabited by psychic phenomena. The products of once frozen photographic moments are enlivened through air and moisture into a process of transformation. Decay and disintegration merge with the image on the glass, forming patterns shaped like roots, leaves and ectoplasmic fissures, reclaiming the mechanical capture to become a sensory language that is used to describe a newly imagined and haunted landscape. Some of the marks appear corrosive pointing to an intrusion or imbalance with the natural world alluding to our environmentally challenged existence.
