Galeria de Santa Maria Maior

R. da Madalena 147, 1100-006 Lisboa

14 . 10 . 2026 → 07 . 11 . 2026

monday - saturday → 03:00 pm – 08:00 pm

Artist

Marta Djourina

The presented works are part of Marta Djourina's ongoing exploration of light as a co-creative force. Working without a camera, she exposes analogue photographic paper directly to natural and physical phenomena such as sunlight, water, bioluminescence, and electrical discharge. Through these processes, images emerge not as representations, but as traces of interaction between material, environment, and time.

As described in her monograph, Djourina's practice shifts photography away from depiction toward collaboration—light is not captured but actively participates in the formation of the image. Each work becomes a record of a transient event: the glow of living organisms, the movement of water, the energy of a human touch, or the controlled application of light sources such as custom-built lasers and diodes directed onto the paper in the darkness of the photo lab.

The series engages with ideas of transformation, indexicality, and the visibility of otherwise imperceptible processes. In contrast to earlier works shaped by organic or environmental factors, these images emerge through highly controlled, performative actions. Using self-built laser devices, Djourina develops precise choreographies of movement, duration, and intensity, allowing light to inscribe itself directly into the photosensitive surface.

Each work is a unique analogue exposure, produced without reproducible negatives or digital intervention. The resulting images oscillate between micro and macro scales, evoking energetic fields, spatial tensions, and shifting states of matter. Rather than illustrating external phenomena, they register the immediate interaction between gesture, apparatus, and material.

In this way, the works challenge conventional notions of authorship, positioning the artist not as sole creator but as an agent who sets conditions for a process to unfold. Photography becomes a site of activation—where light, movement, and material converge to produce images that function both as physical records and as manifestations of a controlled yet dynamic system.