Susan Derges

I first came across Susan Derges work in Jesse Alexander's book Perspectives on Place.  I find her photographs both beautiful and fascinating.  She began her career by studying as a painter at the Chelsea College of Art and Design and then moved on to the Slade.  She later changed her medium to photography and began to experiment with cameraless techniques as she became frustrated with the fact that the camera seemed to separate the viewer from the subject.  She was always interested in abstract work and cameraless photography enabled her to pursue this, especially allowing her to connect with the natural world.  Much of her work recently has concentrated on working at night and she has combined traditional with cameraless styles, often placing her photographic paper under water and exposing it to handheld flash light.  Although viewers can distinguish what they are looking at in her images they also have a distinct abstract background.

On her website Susan Derges has transcribed an interview with David Chandler, Director of Photoworks with whom she has worked closely over the years.  In she describes her River Taw and Moon series of images as reflecting the human body as they are long and thin.  The River Taw images were made in the river at night whereas the Moon series was created in the darkroom by combining conventional  photographs of the moon taken by Derges withdirect prints of branches and water that had been vibrated by sound waves.  Her aim was to make visible the relationships between the moon, water, living matter and the human observer.  In Natural Magic she examined the 'creative' approach to science through alchemy.  She worked at the Oxford University Museum of the History of Science exploring their collections using the four elements of earth, water, fire and air.  She wanted to capture the spirit of early Renaissance experimentation.  I the River Taw and Eden work she was concerned with the ephemeral, transient nature of the world we think of as solid and predetermined.

I find all of her work fascinating, but I particularly enjoy the ethereal nature of her Moons series. They remind me of a favourite childhood Poem by Alfred Noyes: The Highwayman.

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees.

The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.

The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,

And the highwayman came riding -

Riding - Riding -

The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn door.

http://www.susanderges.com/

http://www.inglebygallery.com/artists/susan-derges/

http://www.rsa.ox.ac.uk/research/detail/susan-derges-natural-magic

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171940