Simone Mudde

SIMONE MUDDE: Hyper Natural

Curated by Séamus McCormack

Simone Mudde experiments with colour separation photography - a process where monochrome images are exposed using coloured filters and subsequently layered in the darkroom. The technique, developed in the early 20th century, demands perfect composition and accurate exposure. Mudde plays with this process by allowing alignment issues or glitches of colour to form narratives, and such errors are used to identify the passing of time, the latency of movement, and to further abstract what is perceived by the lens and the eye. Enhancing the colour separation analogue method with digital manipulation, she creates new compositions to further confound how we might read images. Exploring the qualities of the photographic process and stretching its boundaries, Mudde encourages us to consider the labour and methodologies in producing the work.

For this exhibition at Lismore Castle Arts, Mudde observes the unseen energies of the natural environment. Many of the images are derived from the gardens at Lismore Castle and its particular vegetation and landscape. Alongside botanical studies in the form of vistas from this ecosystem, Mudde’s distinct processes are heightened with her image of a cascading waterfall where the infinite and expressionistic possibilities of colour and light are amplified by the water’s movement.

Mudde’s investigations are informed by the pioneering work of Russian photographer and scientist Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky who invented the tri-colour technique in the early 1900’s. He developed a photographic system in which black and white negatives and coloured filters were combined together to create colour images. He travelled the Russian empire to document its apparent greatness and to use these images as an educational tool for observers. Being a long-time proponent of Prokudin-Gorsky’s original techniques, for this exhibition Mudde has created a contemporary version of this projector where the spectacle is re-illuminated.

Also included in the exhibition is a series of photograms of plant and insect subjects, likened to that from a vintage encyclopaedia and continuing the pedagogical tone set with the projector as a tool for elucidation. Mudde’s analytical eye draws us into the minutiae of detail in these natural specimens with their psychedelic pattern and extraordinary forms.

Opening Reception

Saturday 29 July, 3pm

Followed by a walk to see the Confessions exhibition at The Mill 4pm

Image: Simone Mudde, Red Dahlia, 2022, C-Print. Image courtesy the artist.