Dena Lester produces dense and powerful images of familiar and archetypically significant subjects. Not seeking to reduce the world to an image of its clearsightedness, she creates ‘pure and accidental’ images by variously exposing the film to light in camera and embracing the visual effects.
Noise and interference are part of the image and meaning is found in the chance associations and correspondences that emerge through the process. The ‘purity’ of the negative is respected and digital technology is not used to manipulate the image. Lester’s trust in the unfolding dynamic integrity of the process gives these images a spiritual dimension. The notion of the photograph as a mechanical rendering of an objective world is reframed in these images that reflect the interdependence of being and world.
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