Like folds in water (caustic network) 2024
Chromogenic photographs, water-based latex ink on synthetic paper, UV Nano ceramic solar film, Dichronic window film, digital video, stage lights; Mantis shrimp (Harpiosquilla sinensis) photograph © S. Ahyong, photographer: R. Springthorpe
dimensions variable. Photos: Andrew Curtis
Commission by the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art for The Charge that Binds, curated by Shelley McSpedden
7 Dec 2024– 16 Mar 2025
Australia Centre for Contemporary Art
Izabela Pluta’s expanded photographic practice is characterised by processes of embodied fieldwork, fragmentation, dislocation and reconfiguration, which she deftly uses to disrupt linear narratives of time and questions the idea of photography as a factual and reliable tool. Her work aims to push the limits of photography as a medium and practice developing a way of working that physically and conceptually navigates states of uncertainty. From tracing geological changes across deep time to addressing faster-changing anthropogenic, cultural, environmental and societal shifts, she considers different aspects of place in an ever-changing world.
In Like folds in water (caustic network) 2024 Pluta poetically harnesses the embodied experience of diving to disrupt traditional photographic vision, exploring ways of seeing that might destabilise terrestrial-based knowledge. She also draws parallels between the immersive and spatial experiences of diving and those akin to working in a darkroom. Building on fieldwork undertaken at the Heron Island Research Station, Pluta is concerned with what it feels like to see, as well as how the physical and mental processes of seeing occur through investigating how light behaves underwater. The immersive, multi-faceted installation takes the extraordinary spectral vision of a Mantis Shrimp as its cue, with the artist manipulating the light spectrum to push the boundaries of what can be seen and understood.
Caustic Network incorporates a moving image of the Azure Window debris, filmed underwater in Gozo, Malta, alongside black-and-white images of coral debris created by photocopying fragments collected from Heron Island Research Station. Large C-Type photographs are the result of darkroom processes involving principles of photographic solarsation, combining negative and positive images. Derived from scientific transect data post-bleaching coral events on the East Coast of Australia earlier this year, the pictorial qualities of the images are bent and expanded through non-traditional processes where light behaves unpredictably, refracted and scattered, symbolising the spectral qualities of light as experienced beyond human perception. The photographic film cascading from the ceiling references coloured markers used by scientists to map the health of coral in the Great Barrier Reef, but Pluta’s use of the material generates an optical interaction in which the light is simultaneously softened, shimmering and alive.
Caustic Network fosters an awareness of multispecies relations and the ongoing planetary ecological crisis. Emphasising relationality and connection, the work explores a series of interactions with the natural world, inviting a deeper engagement with the complexities of our shared ecological landscape. The installation questions how photography filters our relationship with the world, speaking to the complexities of seeing, perceiving and representing fragile ecosystems. It suggests that this ecology is not something that we can view from the outside but something we are inherently enmeshed within.
Studio liaison and research assistant: Sarah Hibbs
Darkroom collaborator for C-Type coral photograph testing: Katrina Stamatopoulos
Video Editor: Tiyan Baker
3D Visualisation: Max Suciu Gleeson
This project's research and production took place on several unceded, sovereign lands, including the Sea Country of the Bailai, Gooreng Gooreng, Gurang and Taribelang Bunda people; the land of the Awabakal, Bidjigal, Gadigal, Worimi and Wurundjeri people; and the Maltese in Gozo, Malta.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body
The artist acknowledges the assistance of The Faculty of Art & Design The University of NSW andThe Heron Island Research Station, especially Associate Professor Chris Roelfsema Marine Ecosystems Monitoring Lab, School of The Environment and Academic Director Heron Island Research Station, Centre of Marine Science, Dr Stuart Kininmonth, Station Manager/Coral Reef Ecologist; Diana Kleine, Project Manager, Coral Watch; VCA Photography, University of Melbourne; Kian Pullins and Wetlab, Melbourne; UQ Art Museum, University of Queensland Director Peta Rake and (former) Senior Curator Anna Briers; Prof Shane T. Ahyong, Senior Principal Research Scientist & Manager, Marine Invertebrates, Australian Museum Research Institute and Urban Art Projects (UAP). Also, a special thank you to Fernando do Campo, Sophie O’Brien, Ant Bannister, Charm Watts and Owen Redman.