Polona Smolnikar: Light impressions

Polona Smolnikar

Light impressions, photographic exhibition

Kamnik Photo Club Gallery, Kamnik 22 November 2024 at 7pm

 

Humans are diurnal creatures – we work from morning to night, and in between we do our daily things. We act by (daylight) light. It regulates the functioning of our body, and in addition, without even realizing it, affects our well-being. It is believed that this is also why, from the very beginning, man wanted to create artificial light that would illuminate the darkness of the night. And that is precisely why the solstice and equinoxes have been an integral part of beliefs, mythologies, traditions since time immemorial.

Illuminating the darkness is fascinating, illuminating the darkness of the night even more so. Twinkling stars, fluttering flames, beams of lanterns and lights - with such scenes the eye rests, and a person calms down and looks contemplatively into himself and enjoys the images that unfold before him. Emotions can be evoked in it, which I would not have felt during my daily perception of such scenes.

Enchantment with illuminated night landscapes is the center of interest of Polona Smolnikar's current solo exhibition. The author exhibits art installations in which photography, light and sound intertwine. Eight installations show just as many nightscapes, illuminated (mostly) only by twinkling stars. The latter is reinforced. The artificial light that illuminates the photo from the background intensifies the natural light captured in the image, thus creating a completely new dimension of night starscapes. The glow glows and the illuminated points of the installation attract a person to mature and indulge in the flow of thought. We do not see the people in the photos. Considering the purpose of the exhibition, they would be completely superfluous. The illuminated light tells a story by itself - it shows impressions, moments in the night that are not identical to each other due to the movement of space bodies and other natural laws. Any obvious presence of human figures would thus obscure the true meaning of the visual side of the exhibition, although their traces are subtly present - also through the perceived infrastructure and light pollution.

Installations add an additional dimension and do not remain only on a visual level. The tour is complemented by a natural soundscape that takes the visitor on an evening walk - the experience moves from the exhibition space to the place of observation itself. He is offered the opportunity to escape from everyday life - he is given the opportunity to calm down in the face of the silence and peace of the night instead of facing the abundance of events. This provides an opportunity for (self) reflection.

We might think that one of the purposes of the exhibition is to confront the viewer with his own inability to calm down. Installations with atmosphere act as instructions to the viewer to calm down and face the fact that tranquility can only be achieved after preliminary preparations and directed following of predetermined steps. And that too in an artificially created space before the recording of nature, which I could otherwise experience at the locations where the photos were taken, and I could be present with the same sounds. It is hard to say that the mirror placed in this way is the real purpose of the exhibition for the viewer. The effects of the first and second are different.

First of all, the exhibition represents the interweaving of the author's creativity, science and nature. Interplay of artificial and natural light. Capturing and visually displaying the true character of light is by no means an easy task. The author helped herself with technology and brought the right light, the right rays into her works. Viewers can thus immerse themselves in light landscapes and confront their own preoccupation with lights.

It seems that the author approached the preparation of the exhibition with a good scientific basis and that she understands the influence of light on human existence. In combination with technologically sophisticated installations, the latter brings us closer and prepares a holistic experience of an autumn evening.

Anže Slana

The exhibition of photographs by Polona Smolnikar in the Kamnik Photo Club Gallery, which will be on display between November 20 and 27, takes the visitor into a unique world of starscapes. Welcome!

Link to the event:Polona Smolnikar: Light impressions | Facebook

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