Ross T Smith: + Linger

Bartley + Company Art is proud to present an exhibition of pinhole photographs by Ross T Smith, on display from 2 - 27 February 2010.

Summertime is a good time to slow down, to take time and to linger with things and that is exactly what photographer Ross T Smith has done and is asking viewers to do with his new body of pinhole photographs.

Smith first came to prominence a decade ago with his poignant portraits of young Maori in the Hokianga, which are in the collection of the Auckland Art Gallery. Now he has turned his attention to the most primitive of cameras which is a way of looking diametrically opposed to the fast glance fostered in today’s visually saturated contemporary world.

The pinhole photographs which are dark, grey, quiet and beautiful play with notions of memory, time and silence.

The photographs are hand-made using traditional darkroom techniques. The exposures are long – 20-60 minutes – depending on light and location. The ‘camera’ is a cardboard box - there is no hi-tech interference at all; no lens, no shutter, no moving parts, no mechanisms.

The selenium toned prints are double landscapes – two negatives, two exposures, contact printed together. They are handled before exposure and so show smudges and fingerprints as a memory of the hand of the artist.

Image: Ross T Smith, Karekare, 2008

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