UNDULATIONS continues Izabela Pluta’s investigation into the limits and singularity of photographic processes. The exhibition explores the interest in the interplay of light, materiality, and ecological fragility Pluta has through the lens of her embodied experience of diving, using experimental modes of working to reimagine light and representation. Pluta challenges conventions and pushes at the material edges of the medium.
In UNDULATIONS, the spectral qualities of underwater light—bent, refracted, and scattered—become the catalyst for this constellation of new photographic works. These exist in parallel to Caustic Network, commissioned by The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), a large-scale, cascading photographic installation, that shimmers with spectral hues and references scientific methods of mapping coral health.
Central to this work are the principles of solarisation, using a set of darkroom techniques Pluta employs to manipulate light, creating distortions and inversions in tone and colour. Developed from scientific transect data collected after recent coral bleaching events, large C-type photographs combine positive and negative exposures to expand the medium's pictorial qualities. These works capture the unpredictable dynamics of underwater ecosystems while reflecting the fragility and ephemerality of coral.
Drawing on fieldwork conducted at the Heron Island Research Station, Pluta's practice is grounded in questioning traditional photographic vision and terrestrial-based knowledge systems. For Pluta, the embodied experience of diving parallels the sensory and spatial dynamics of working in a darkroom. Her process underscores the way in which light behaves unpredictably in both environments—diffracting, dispersing, reshaping perception—while the body becomes an active participant in navigating disorientation and recalibrating vision.
The title — UNDULATIONS — speaks to the rhythmic, wave-like movements that underpin this work's physical and conceptual foundations. It captures the fluid interplay between light, materiality, and perception, reflecting the way images might emerge, shift, and dissolve through experimental photographic processes.
