April Friges In Absolute Space

Opening Reception: Saturday, January 13, 2-5pm

Guided Tour of the Exhibition with April Friges: Saturday, January 13, 3pm

Exhibition Dates: January 13 – February 17, 2024

Stephen Bulger Gallery is pleased to present “In Absolute Space,” the first solo exhibition of work by April Friges in Canada. Experimentation with antiquarian photographic processes and investigations into photographic materials are at the root of her practice. They serve as methods to re-envision the collodion wet plate, colour darkroom, and gelatin silver darkroom processes so central to the history of photography. By utilizing light, shadow and reflection, Friges’ works are often sculpted to create unique spatial experiences in opposition to the two-dimensional nature of a photograph.

Works included “In Absolute Space,” use her ground-breaking approach to the tintype process that is expanded by new materials that have become available since the advent of the process in the late 1840s. This reveals a myriad of relationships to alternate and historical photographic image-making processes.  Her previous bodies of work, such as “CMY RGB,” “Untitled Color” (both colour darkroom) and “Spectator” (black and white darkroom), emerge in this exhibition as playful collaborations within the material aspects of photography, revealing Friges’ interest in writing new narratives to the medium.