Zoe Leonard: Available Light

Two photo series exploring the camera obscura and gelatin silver images of the sun

In the two related bodies of work that form this volume’s centerpiece, New York-based photographer Zoe Leonard (born 1961) poses fundamental questions about the medium of photography and the nature of sight. In a series of large-scale installations sited in the United States and Europe, the artist employed the principle of the camera obscura, pairing it with gelatin silver photographs of the sun. The image in Leonard’s room-size camera obscuras is immersive and continuous, shifting constantly in response to the fleeting light of the outside world and unraveling in the surrounding space to come into its full vibrancy. Leonard’s camera obscuras have been sited in cities in Europe and the United States, from Venice and London to New York and Marfa. This title explores this body of work through photographs that document these installations in five international cities.