And there was light
Serbia/France
2024
Inspired by Etienne Léopold Trouvelot’s study of electric sparks in 1890, Dora Tishmann took an interest in light and its phenomena, creating a specific protocol to record its manifestations in relation to elements of various types.
In the darkroom, the photographer set up a process in which rays of electricity struck plants, minerals, shapes and objects as if by lightning. The one-shot 4×5″ film captures this fleeting event in the form of a photogram.
On the one hand, geometrical shapes express the spatiality of light, its constructions and its forces that refer back to the Universe. On the other hand, the use of conductive bodies such as plants enables her to express the cellular and molecular materiality of light.
In these photos, electric light reveals a hidden, ordered and harmonious dimension – a geometry of the universe where the infinitesimal and the infinitely large merge. Through this process, Dora Tishmann fashions cosmoses in which the boundaries between molecules and galaxies are blurred, as is our relationship to the image. The large formats make the viewer a part of the infinitesimal, while the small formats create a sense of searching for the invisible hidden in the infinitesimal.
Portfolio
About the artist
Born in 1980 in former Yugoslavia (Serbia), Dora Tishmann lives and works in France. She is a graduate of the National University of Arts in Bucharest. Having trained as a painter, she now experiments with different photographic techniques to explore themes around the body, the universe and the myths of creation.