Chladni

Last week I went to see "Shadow catchers": Camera-less Photography presents the work of five international contemporary artists, at the V&A. The exhibition is exiting and inspiring, but what intrigued me the most was a series of pieces made by Susan Derges, called 'Chladni'.

This is one image from a series of 8 photograms which were made by recording the vibration patterns created when eight sheets of photographic paper were vibrated by eight different sound frequencies of different pitch. Carborundum powder on the surface of the paper formed into configurations printed onto the paper by exposure to light. The light areas are where the powder has settled. The regular and creative pattern which is formed seems almost unbelievable, because of the lack of human intervention and the unpredictability of the pattern formed.

For this series Derges used process called photogram- 'A photogram is a kind of photograph, although made without a camera or a lens by placing an object or objects on top of a piece of paper or film coated with light sensitive material and then exposing the paper or film to light. Where the object covers the paper, the paper remains unexposed and light in tone; where it does not cover, the paper darkens. If the object is translucent, midtones appear. After exposure, the paper is developed and fixed.' Gordon Baldwin, 'Looking at Photographs', J. Paul Getty Museum, 1991.

Derges work was useful in two aspects-

1. Throughout my research and process I've been looking for way to translate the 'music language' into a 'visual language'. My challenge was to find a way to do it objectively and not subjectively. The process Derges use visualises a physical reaction to the music and its not effected by human touch, motion or felling.

2. Photogram is an amazing process of producing photograph- without a camera- a process I wasn't aware of. weather I will actually try to produce the same images or not- I found a new tool to communicate my ideas and developments.