“Breaking free from confinement, venturing into a new, multifaceted realm of imagination shaped by light
“Camera-less Photography” builds on my earlier *photogram* series, continuing an exploration of “Drawing with light” This exhibition presents two distinct bodies of work, each employing different image-making techniques. The first series explores early, foundational photographic processes: I hand-coat drawing paper with light-sensitive chemicals to transform it into photographic paper. Upon this, I arrange objects—guided by my imagination, thoughts, and emotions—to reimagine their forms into something entirely new, something that does not exist in reality. This involves several approaches: directly placing objects, capturing their shadows, and using *Notan* Art (a Japanese concept of light-dark balance) paper-cutting techniques. These arrangements are exposed to light, recorded onto the handmade sensitized paper, and then developed to reveal the final image. The second series, *Scanography*, utilizes contemporary scanning technology to generate yet another form of imagery. These are captured as digital files and further refined in Photoshop—resulting in photographic works created entirely without a camera.
The printing process for both series is based on a pioneering technique from the history of photography known as the “salt print,” invented in 1834. When combined with silver nitrate, it imparts a natural reddish-brown tone and a soft, low-contrast quality. This unique, charming characteristic of the manual printing process ensures that no two prints are ever exactly alike.