Wang Ningde doesn't create photographs - merely the shadows of them. The image above, from the Beijing-based photographer's Form of Light series, consists of the shadows of hundreds of tiny sheets of photographic film.
"Each Form of Light work is made from a complete photo that has been calculated and divided into sections on a computer," says Wang. The slices are generated using projection software to estimate angles of a nearby light source. The image is then printed on photographic transparency and cut by hand.
"A mistake in any stage of this process will result in failure, so the co-ordination of each step is critical," he says. "The fragments are reassembled on acrylic board. When exposed to light, the image is revealed."
The film pieces are mounted perpendicular to the gallery wall. As the light in the room fluctuates, so does each image. It becomes lighter or darker and the clarity changes. (A light source is also placed at a specific angle to provide the optimum image when required.) "The light projected on the fragments generates an illusory feeling," says Wang, 45.
Wang's work often plays with photography's traditional form: in addition to documentary images of Chinese life, he makes kinetic sculptures. He began Form of Light in 2013 as a meditation on the misleading, dual nature of photography: every picture is a document of a moment but also a shadow of it.
"I no longer believe in the documentary ability of photography, nor in its direct correlation with reality," he says. "I now view the photographic world as parallel to, and non-intersecting with, reality."
Wang aims to tour the work this year. "I hope that besides being captivated by the beauty and magic, the viewer will also consider the emptiness of photograph," he says, "as well as the emptiness of our lives."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
