Liquid Light – Transforming Matter by Hanne Lange Houlberg

Plants, landscapes and rotten heads of lettuce are recurring motifs in the photographic series presented in Hanne Lange Houlberg’s exhibition Liquid Light – Transforming Matter. Here, nature’s patterns and shapes find their way into the photographic image through experimental, artistic interpretation. The exhibition opens on Friday 14 March, 2025 at 4-6 p.m. in Galleri Image.The artworks in the exhibition exist at the boundary of what is traditionally considered photography. The title Liquid Light refers to a light-sensitive photo emulsion of the same name, which can be applied to graphic printing paper in the darkroom, in which it is transformed into photopaper. But the title also refers to a fascination with photography’s ability to capture ‘liquid light’ and give it a material form. In this sense, the works are created on the basic components of photography: light and time.Hanne Lange Houlberg has brought the understanding of materials she developed when she was trained as a weaver into her photographic practice. The materials she makes use of are the basis for her exploration of the photographic image and the nature that surrounds us. Rotting heads of lettuce, withered dandelions, ferns and other plants are transformed in the process. She uses organic decay and combines it with photographic chemicals in what she calls organic photography.In organic photography, the photographic image is transmuted in the intersection between drawing, painting and photography. Lange Houlberg paints her subject matter with chemicals on light-sensitive paper, and from there, her control collides with chance, as the effect of light, water and chemicals are left outside of her command.Although the works in the exhibition are concerned with the nature of process and photography, they are just as much about our relationship with our surroundings; we must nurture the plant life and nature we share the world with. Liquid Light – Transforming Matter is about transience, traces of life, and the longing to rediscover the innate poetry of photography and nature.The exhibition is curated by Ph.D. and photo historian Inger Ellekilde Bonde.During the exhibition period, Galleri Image will present two related events:A conversation on organic photography, nature and time in Galleri Image with Hanne Lange Houlberg and Inger Ellekilde Bonde, Saturday, 5 April at 2 p.m.
https://galleriimage.dk/.../a-conversation-on-organic.../Cameraless Photography: Workshop at Fotografisk Værksted, Højbjerg with Hanne Lange Houlberg and Christel Elkjær
6 - 10 April 2025, from 10-4 p.m.
https://fotografiskvaerksted.org/kurser/About the artist
Hanne Lange Houlberg (b. 1959) graduated as a weaver at the Aarhus Art Academy in 1984 and at Magdalena Abakanowicz’s weaving school at the Art Academy in Poznan 1988-89. Since 1995, she has taught photography at Holbæk Academy of Arts. Hanne Lange Houlberg has participated in a number of group exhibitions, including at Charlottenborg, Rønnebæksholm, Rundetaarn, and The Nivaagaard Collection. This exhibition at Galleri Image is her first solo exhibition.Read more: https://galleriimage.dk/.../liquid-light-transforming.../The exhibition is supported by the Danish Arts Foundation, the Obel Family Foundation, the Louis-Hansen Foundation and the Augustinus Foundation.Image: Hanne Lange Houlberg, Dandelion V (detail), 2025.

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