Jun 23

Jun 23 Exhibition Review: Susan Derges "Rivers"

Written by: Megan Walsh

Catching nature’s mesmeric patterns, Susan Derges’s photograms freeze the continuous movement of river water and the branches of plant life hanging over the aquatic life. Viewers can then ponder the enigma of life itself as they gaze at the smallest worlds that are under our feet, thriving richly around us in timeless silence. Rivers, Derges’s current exhibition with Danziger Gallery, presents her work experimenting with the mysterious connection between photography, water, and the environment from her The River Taw “Restored”photographs along with three other series, Eden (2005), Star Field (2008), and Bridge (2013). Derges is best known for her pioneering technique of immersing color photographic paper into The River Taw at night and flashing the paper with a strobe light—the camera-less method creates photograms that freeze-frame the motion of water. The effect gets closer than any camera lens over the water ever could. Water’s effortless rippling is captured alongside the lingering and intricate shadows of tree branches, which reveals layers of seamless patterns against a black backdrop.

Susan Derges lives and works on Dartmoor in southwest England, where she explores her fascination with water and continues pushing the boundaries of her personal mastery of photography. In her earlier projects, Derges set up experiments in her studio to create photograms of water droplets suspended in air and frogs swimming in golden water. To capture the movements of the river, Derges needed only venture outside near her home at moonrise. The results were eerie, yet mystical, blue-hued images of nature’s moving patterns rendered still. Other images capture the essence of nighttime’s mysteries through glimpses of the starry sky beneath the branches of towering trees. All of which reveal the beauty and mystique of the wild once the moon rises after dark.

Rivers at Danziger Gallery marks the first American showing of Susan Derges’s The River Taw “Restored” photographs along with three other series from her 1997 River Taw work. The unique camera-less method of the “Restored” photographs yielded no negative. This proved so intriguing to museums and collectors that they were very quickly sold. Soon, Derges had none of that original artwork in her possession except the few pieces that were damaged. They were rolled up and tucked away in her studio until the advent of high-resolution digital scanning printing, which enabled them to be restored to their flawless original state. Three of these will be on display at Danziger, along with ten other pieces from Derges’s other series. Eden, Star Field, and Bridge all evolved from her earlier River Taw works. “In each of these series Derges is increasingly involved in the making and composition of the final image taking the insights from the earliest work into and out of the studio,” the Danziger Gallery press release states.