DAVIDLOUGHLIN

Elegant botanical specimens—a pressed fern, an unfurling koru, and lichen fragments—arranged delicately on a large sheet of aged, hand-prepared photographic paper. The paper bears faint phytogram and lumen traces, with smoky grey, earthy greens, and pale ochre markings in ghostly, layered abstractions. The arrangement is set on a weathered stone tabletop in a studio with minimal furnishings; only the subtle hint of a wooden frame leans in the background. Gentle, cool studio light washes softly over the scene, creating quiet highlights and blurred shadows that give the artwork depth without harshness. Framed in a classic rule-of-thirds composition and shot at eye level, the image emanates calm and quiet sophistication. The style is minimalist and naturally photographic, spotlighting the artist’s exploration of ecological processes.

David Loughlin Profile

Whānau of landscape and memory informs David Loughlin’s MFA research, employing historical processes to explore territory, knowledge, and ecological histories through material, site-responsive imagery.


About

David Loughlin

David Loughlin investigates layered histories through wet plate processes, lumen, and phytograms, grounding his practice in site-responsive methods inspired by Whāingaroa and Taranaki.

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A meticulously prepared sheet of collodion glass shimmers with barely-there silvery reflections and the faintest whispers of hand-coating marks, set against a stark matte-black backdrop with almost invisible seams. The glass is balanced on two elegant steel supports, with hints of amber and smoke grey along its edges. Soft, cool raking light from the left glances delicately across the plate, revealing minute textures and producing gentle, elegant gradients from highlight to shadow, with a distinct sense of atmosphere. The composition is highly minimalist, empty space comprising much of the frame. Photographed close-up from a low angle to accentuate the glass’s planar quality and evoke sophisticated abstraction, echoing the artist’s materially focused photographic methodologies.