Ivy

In this photograph Susan Derges captures the flow and turbulence of the River Taw near her home in West England. She submerges color photographic paper in the river bed at night and uses a combination of dim moonlight and brief intense flashes of light to produce a positive image. This camera-less process, known as the photogram, is typically employed in the darkroom, but by adapting it to the outdoors Derges achieves a fresh, direct connection with her natural subject matter. The influence of Japanese hanging scrolls is evident in the elongated vertical format of the print and the flat decorative silhouette of ivy branch shadows on the water's surface. Compressed, shallow space contributes to an ambiguous perspective in which viewers may feel as if they are looking downward into the river or gazing upward from it.