David Eva’s Cameraless Photograms
I’ve been making cameraless photograms for a number of years. I’m fascinated by the way light behaves as it moves around, through, behind or under different materials (glass, fabric, card, plastic, metal etc). Light is the lifeblood of the photogram, and the effect conjured by different light sources – I’ve used torches, lamps, candles – is endlessly productive and infinitely variable. I shine light at varying angles and through various materials, capturing its permeation of space and object.
The finished photogram will often be the result of several stages of activity. It is in the nature of the work that you don’t know what you’ve got until you see what emerges in the developing tray, at which point I often take the image out for two or three re-exposures.
More recently, I’ve begun to make collages by tearing up images and recombining them. This satisfies an urge not to waste photograms that might have been partially successful, but it also means I can build up an image over time, adding and removing, rather like a painter might do. I tear rather than cut because I prefer the rough, unkempt edge I get. Each type of photographic paper is mounted on a slightly different kind of card base, which tears in its own manner.
There is an art to tearing up photos.
