Observation Point - Camden Art Centre

American artist Zoe Leonard harnesses a natural phenomenon to think about ways of looking, recording and experiencing time and space.

Across all the galleries this major exhibition engages three distinct forms of photography and transforms one of the spaces into a camera obscura. Daylight filters in through a lens, projecting an image of the world outside onto the floor, walls and ceiling. This work invites comparisons with film and video as the light source changes throughout the day, giving rise to a continually shifting, immersive and cinematic event.

The camera obscura (dark chamber) is a naturally occurring phenomenon that has been used since antiquity as a tool to understand the behaviour of light. The experience of Leonard’s installation is durational and as such invites comparisons with film and video. As the ephemeral panorama unravels continually inside the space, attention is drawn to the shifts in movement and light – some barely perceptible, some dramatic.

Showing alongside this was a series of photographs taken directly of the sun, challenging the possibilities of photographic representation. Photography customarily depicts the colour, form and spatial extension that the light (of the sun) allows us to discern, rather than the sun as subject itself. These images combine subject and process, retaining the glare and flare on the lens, the grain of the film in the enlarged print and the evidence of the artist’s work in the darkroom. The installation of found postcards in Gallery 2 continues Leonard’s practice of attending to the world around her as source material, reframing or representing already existing images so as to refresh our own act of looking. Together, the works ask us to question photographic seeing and how we relate to the mediated image.

Images Related events

Create a Scene

Friday 27 April
Project aimed at older generation art enthusiasts to ‘create a scene’ for adults who are looking for creative opportunities and inspiration. Tour and discussion around the exhibition by Zoe Leonard, followed by activities and a group picnic.

Zoe Leonard Exhibition Talk: Rut Blees Luxemburg

Wednesday 16 May
Artist Rut Blees Luxemburg presented a talk on the work of Zoe Leonard and her approach to image making and photography.

Hide and Seek for Infants and Juniors

Tuesday 5 – Friday 8 June
Taking inspiration from Zoe Leonard’s camera obscura, children created fantastical camouflage clothing to transform themselves within Camden Art Centre’s environment, documenting their creations as they go along.

Shona Handley

Shona graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 2008 and has since led a variety of children’s workshops while developing her own artistic practice.

 

Eligible Concessions and Refund Policy
Full time students with NUS cards; in receipt of housing and council tax benefits, income support, job seekers allowance, a state pension; registered disabled. Please bring evidence of your concessionary status and show it to the Bookshop staff on the first day of your course. Please note that bookings are non-transferable and non-refundable unless the course is cancelled by the Centre.

Zoe Leonard Exhibition Talk: Anne-Marie Watson

Sunday 24 June, 3.00 – 4.00pm
Exhibitions Programmer Anne-Marie Watson gave a tour of the exhibition on the final day.