Interference Pattern

Full description

BACKGROUND
The project is a collaborative photographic installation informed by Karen Barad’s diffractive methodology, which is indebted to physics and feminist theorising about difference. In “Meeting the Universe Halfway” (2007), Barad explains the process of diffraction as a counter to reflection where the effects of difference are mapped out. Researchers across the humanities have taken up diffraction as a methodology in areas that include gender studies, education, literature, science studies, and philosophy. Yet, it has been explored to a very limited extent in lens-based practice. Diffraction is a significant concept in new materialist thought, and this research sought to examine how diffraction could materialise in a photographic installation.

CONTRIBUTION
“Interference Pattern” takes its name from the effects of difference that are mapped out through diffraction. 75 photographic prints from both artists were installed unframed, pinned to the walls and overlapping, thereby creating a collision of manipulated landscape imagery. The lighting design of the installation harnessed additive colour mixtures and their responses to physical interferences. Where prints protruded from the wall, they acted as obstructions for the light waves, forming multilayered coloured shadows. In this way, the installation materialised as diffraction in physical form in addition to the ways that the photographic imagery mapped the effects of two artists working in complementary and contrasting patterns. The research discovered that diffractive methodology is a productive means to apply materialist thought to lens-based photographic practice.

SIGNIFICANCE
Horsham Regional Art Gallery commissioned the artists to extend the project by incorporating photographic works of the Wimmera region. The gallery holds a notable photography collection and exhibits work by significant Australian photographic artists. The project was also exhibited at Perth Centre for Photography.