"Nr. 6"

direct exposure with sun and salt water on photographic paper (gelatin silver)

In the Sole series, Bulgarian-born artist Marta Djourina demonstrates her understanding of the photographic process by reducing the medium to its most basic principle: exposing light-sensitive material directly to light.
Created on the Black Sea coast, these unique pieces are based on the direct exposure of analogue photographic paper to sunlight (Latin: sol) in combination with seawater (salt water/brine – sole). Rather than acting as a controlling designer, the artist initiates an alchemical process. The surface of the water, along with the minerals and organic particles contained within it, refracts and scatters incoming light directly onto the emulsion. As the seawater dries and crystallises on the paper, organic gradients, light traces and delicate structures emerge. The resulting image is a unique piece that can never be recreated exactly the same way again. Each experiment produces a different outcome.
This practice reflects the core concern of her artistic work. "Through photographic experiments, I explore the nature of light using analogue colour and black-and-white photographic paper. I investigate the cause and effect of various light phenomena on photosensitive paper. Light becomes the subject, the tool and the object of study. In this way, the hidden receives a photographic gaze; the ephemeral is made permanent, revealing the potential of light as a medium.”
In Sole, the interaction of sunlight, salt, and water is made visible. Rather than merely depicting the landscape, the works render the site's physical and chemical forces tangible through painterly and performative gestures, providing a physical record of fleeting natural forces fixed in the moment of their occurrence.
(Christoph Fuchs)