Nadezda Nikolova in conversation with Darren Campion, Curator for Photo Museum Ireland to discuss her ongoing series ‘Elemental Forms, Landscape’ which will also be on show, together with work by Katja Liebmann, in Landscape & Alchemy at HackelBury, London from 17 July until 18 September.  Nikolova creates beautifully haunting abstract landscapes using the historic wet plate collodion process. 

“My process involves daily walks to connect with the landscape. I distill the gleaned information into sketches which I then translate into camera-less compositions in the darkroom using light, wet plate collodion chemistry, aluminum, paper cut-outs, brushes, gravity, and occasionally solarization and cliché verre. The experimental photograms created through multiple exposures as I position and remove cut paper masks sequentially, allude to landscapes, light and atmospheric phenomena, and organic forms found in nature. Rather than transcribing the observed landscape, I seek to record intuitive responses that speak to the felt and ineffable experiences of being fully present in the landscape: to a sense of wonder, awe, and permeating immanence, while simultaneously meditating on loss, hope, and meaning.

Straddling the line between representation and abstraction, the pared down visual vocabulary arises from the immediacy of the photogram as I explore the boundaries of the photographic medium, placing it in conversation with painting, collage, graphic arts, and sculpture. The compositions, ranging in mood from contemplative stillness to dynamism and movement, employ shape, artifact, gesture, and tonal range to explore balance and rhythm.”

About the Contributors:

Nadezda Nikolova (b. 1978, former Yugoslavia) is a photographic artist presently working with wet plate collodion photograms - a historical technique dating back to the 1850s which uses light-sensitive salts dissolved in collodion as film to cover a glass or metal plate before exposing it to the light in darkroom conditions. Her practice is informed by an experimental approach to early photographic processes and her interest in the image as an object. Captivated by the fluidity of wet plate collodion, she manipulates the medium while simultaneously courting chance intrinsic to handmade photography: "I spray, dab and brush on the chemistry in a performative enactment rather than an image capture. (Sometimes, the brush strokes leave physical marks on the emulsion.) In essence, I am negotiating with the chemistry, guiding it. But only to a point. The chemistry has a say in the final image."

‘Elemental Forms, Landscape’ emerged as a direct response to the artist’s surroundings and to experiencing a sense of well-being and security within the landscape. Her aim with this series is to record intangible aspects of the landscape as she experiences them through immersion and observation during her daily walks. Employing sparse tools: cut paper, light, and chemistry, she reduces the composition to its essentials, referencing the imprint of the place while simultaneously attempting to dissolve geographic and temporal coordinates.

Darren Campion is Curator at Photo Museum Ireland. In 2022 he co-curated two major surveys of contemporary Irish photography, The Politics of Place, and Photography & the Social Gaze. With Trish Lambe, Artistic Director, Photo Museum Ireland, he co-curated No Place Like Home: The Domestic in Irish Photography, surveying recent photographic representations of home in Ireland. He has also written extensively about contemporary photographic practices, particularly around visual narrative, and the photobook. He has contributed to international publications and websites, including FOAM, Paper Journal, YET magazine, Photomonitor, and the Irish Arts Review, as well as essays and texts for several artists’ monographs, including Thomas Albdorf, General View (Skinnerboox, 2017) and Aapo Huhta’s Omatandangole, (Kehrer Verlag, 2019). In 2024 he curated Skin/ Deep: Perspectives on the Body, a survey exhibition considering experiences of the body through photography and lens-based media.

About HackelBury

HackelBury was founded twenty-six years ago by Sascha Hackel and Marcus Bury. The gallery is committed to championing artists working with the visual arts who push the boundaries of their medium to create meaningful and contemplative work.

Originally renowned for showcasing classic 20th-century photography, the gallery has embraced more conceptual and abstract art over the past 15 years, expanding its stable of artists to include those working in photography, drawing, painting and collage.

HackelBury Fine Art represents a select group of artists whose work reflects a profound depth of thought and dedication to their craft.

This talk is organised in collaboration with HackelBury Fine Art, London.