Danica Chappell
Chappell explores the materiality of creating photograms [1], investigating light-play and the indexicality of time and place (Chappell 2016, 01:06). The artist exploits rhythmic [2] and durational elements of music as a timekeeping device when working in the darkroom (Chappell 2021) as a way of "remembering the components of an exposure or process" (Nelson n.d.). The Wabi Sabi notion of temporality in photography and an associated space-time duality [3] is evident in Chappell's photograms and titles. Light Shadow (4 sec : 5 days : 2.5 hrs + flash, torch & 30 sec) (Figure 3), for instance, indicates the significance of time and process to the artist, denoting the durational activity of its making and the "commitment to analogue process, navigating the space, the materials, objects and the desire to produce" (Chappell 2012, 48).
Figure 1. Danica Chappell, Piloting #1 #2 #3 #4
Figure 2. Installation view, Danica Chappell: Thickness of Time. Photo by Christian Capurro 2018
Figure 3. Danica Chappell, Light shadow (5 days + 5 hrs in 8 parts + test strips), 2012–15, Monash Gallery of Art installation view. Photo by Marcus Bunyan, 2015
Footnotes
A photogram is a cameraless photograph. Prints are made by laying objects onto a light-sensitive substrate, such as silver gelatin paper, and exposing it to light. Photograms are best known in the work of artists Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Man Ray.
According to Thaut (2005, 39), rhythm assumes a critical syntactical role in communicating "symbolic and associative" meaning in music and is the core feature that ties sound patterns into organised and coordinated forms in the brain, underlying the principles of "musical language" (ibid, 40).
"The space-time duality considers the parallels between the spatial and temporal propagation of light" (Foster et al. 2011, 30).
Keywords
Alternative printing, Tintype, Daguerreotype, Avant Garde, Danica Chappell
References
Chappell, Danica. 2018. Thickness of Time installation view. Image. https://www.heide.com.au/exhibitions/danica-chappell-thickness-time.
Chappell, Danica. Piloting #1 #2 #3 #4. Image. https://danicachappell.com/portfolio/uncategorized/nudge-into-form/.
Chappell, Danica. 2016. "Danica Chappell Artist Interview, Emanations: The Art of Cameraless Photography". Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. July 15, 2016. YouTube video, 05:26. https://youtu.be/Ct5JxAHw-i0.
Chappell, Danica. 2016. "Danica Chappell Artist Interview, Emanations: The Art of Cameraless Photography".
Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. July 15, 2016. YouTube video, 05:26. https://youtu.be/Ct5JxAHw-i0.
Cramer, Sue. 2018. “Everything Has Time.” Danica Chappell Thickness of Time, 2018. ISSUU. https://issuu.com/heidemuseumofmodernart/docs/617.danicachappell__catalogue_fa-is.
Heide Museum of Modern Art. 2018. “DANICA CHAPPELL THICKNESS OF TIME”. https://www.heide.com.au/exhibitions/danica-chappell-thickness-time.