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Angela Chalmers
I am a photographer and painter living and working in North Yorkshire. My art training began in London and I graduated with a BA in Fine Art from the University of Hull. I have exhibited in London, New York and Sweden. My work is held in private collections worldwide.
A central feature of my art practice is my interest in history and humanity. The landscape is often used as a backdrop to express an environment in a contextual way, or simply as an imaginary space, such as when I construct a composition of plant life on my light-sensitive paper. I have always used an experimental approach as my starting point. On reflection, I have recognised this from my early days as a mixed-media painter through to the alternative photographic images that I produce today. I find that the simple method of utilising camera-less photography with chemicals and sunlight fulfils the same needs and nurtures my curiosity for the historical.
The photogram allows the observer to identify familiar objects and shapes, yet offers aesthetic values that are often intriguing. I have enjoyed reading Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography by Martin Barnes. He brought to my attention an interesting fact that pioneer William Henry Fox Talbot continued to produce photograms, or ‘photogenic drawings’ as he would like to call them for many years even though he had discovered image-making using a camera. The book also reminded me of a quote by Talbot that totally sums up my feelings ‘It is a little bit of magic realised’.