Gallery:Garden
I have been developing Camera Obscura and Pinhole cameras in parallel for a few years now, since I first offered to run a basic photography class for my daughter’s grade 5 class in 2014. I am attracted to both because the huge power they have to make us look and wonder while using minimal technology. They have the highest amazement potential over technology ratio that I can think of, which means it takes very little to create awe – and it doesn’t break down.
This has let to me running a number of workshops to empower the public to make their own cameras, to developing a curriculum based on the pinhole to teach trouble-shooting and basic science reasoning, curating a hands-on exhibition at the ArtScience Museum, and even help to polish the “Learn to Fail” participatory artwork.
More recently, I have embraced making Camera Obscura for looking at gardens. I developed some over the summer in a garden in France, and made more in Singapore, which were displayed in the Good Garden, part of the ArtGround at Goodman Art Centre in September 2017. They are mostly made from recycled material, either wood or paper mâché.
Finally, in December 2017, I installed the cameras in my own garden, as well as a Photo Booth. The exhibition, entitled Gallery:Garden was part of the Wessex Art Walk. I am hoping to get these cameras to travel and show different gardens in a different way. Watch the video to hear more about why Camera Obscura are so powerful.
Isabelle Desjeux 