Photography / Opgelicht by Wouter Van der Voorde. At Civic Art Bureau until July 27. Reviewed by CON BOEKEL.

“Opgelicht” is Dutch for “lit up”. Light and shade go to the heart of Wouter Van der Voorde’s practice.

They inform the structure of many of the exhibition’s images. The subject is in a patch of light surrounded by shade. One oft-used technique is flash. This directs light from in front of the subjects which may then also be backlit in the same image. The result is often both a strong focus and deep layering.

Van der Voorde is one of Canberra’s leading photographers. He has a solid international reputation. His last two photobooks, both reviewed positively in CityNews, sold out quickly. It is pleasing to see black dots on the walls.

This exhibition references previous works but focuses on current preoccupations. The Datura is one such. This plant is very toxic. Here the foliage droops: power and powerlessness combined. In this exhibition, the broad front of Van der Voorde’s subject interests and of his photographic methods results in a somewhat scattered choice of prints. Nevertheless, the presentation is highly finished.

We live in a world beset by deep fakery. Identity theft, the onslaught of AI and the almost endless sugar hits of ephemeral digital images assault our very humanity.

Here we luxuriate in materiality. The physical processes that create the art are honoured with a blemish here and an imperfection there. The paper is allowed to curl. The guiding algorithm of Van der Voorde’s creation is an embrace of the stochastic informed by high technical accomplishment. Van der Voorde’s practice vibrates between the human touch, light and its absence, trial and error, chemicals and paper. The results can be amazingly tangible. It is possible to imagine smelting silver and minting coinage from some of the prints.

Within the materiality there is a distinct sense of a protean struggle – perhaps between the gates of hell, the love of family, of connecting to country, and of urban order and disorder. All of these feature as subjects.

Martyn Jolley’s exhibition essay is wonderful. He writes: “As every artist… knows, to dance the dance of death is to feel yourself to be alive. So Wouter’s photographic processes are not a superadded effect, they are the source of his life.”