ANCIENT LIGHT
Silver Gelatin Photographs, Various Locations (Iceland, Italy, UK), 2017-2018.
Ancient Light explores how light from incredibly distant stars can be captured directly onto photosensitive film. To create these images, photons emitted from stars travel over millions of years through the void of space. The photon then travels through Earths’ atmosphere and through the camera lens, at which point the photon is physically absorbed by the silver halide crystals suspended in the film. When processed, the silver halide crystals turn black as they come into contact with developer and fixer. For Melanie, these negatives are as precious as a meteorite or fossil, as their material structure is formed by the passage of incomprehensible periods of time.
