My aim is to visually grasp the studio and its contents which are predominantly static, over time, so that the slow infusion of the presence of the working artist, through light and movement, impregnates the photographic image with a tangible presence and energy which cannot be seen, but definitely felt.

The method I have chosen to realise the pinhole paper negatives into paper positives involves painting a light-sensitive solution onto paper and exposing that, through an enormous camera where the front half is in one room and the other half is in the darkroom. 

“Black Magic”, a light-sensitive photographic emulsion is hand painted onto watercolour paper, in the dark, and the negative is photographed using the room-sized camera. Aiming for a photographic tonal precision but achieving an effect governed by emulsion application, the created surface shows the truth of the hand of the artist, resulting in an image which is photographic yet painterly, much like the original long exposure paper negatives themselves.

  - Laura Ellenberger

This is a series of limited-edition archival prints from time exposures made in Deborah Bell's sculpture studio and foundry, outside Johannesburg. Photographic paper negatives recorded displacement and transformation over periods of 10 minutes to several hours. These negatives were transported to London. Paper was hand-coated with silver halide emulsion, which was deliberately applied in a more sculptural way by coating rod rather than by painting. The image from the paper negatives was then re-projected by reflection onto this receptive surface. The nature of this alchemical process dictates that each image is unique.