Untitled [flower] 1925

This is a photogram, an image made without a camera, by László Moholy-Nagy. Look how the flower seems to bloom right out of the paper! It’s all about light and shadow, a dance of tones instead of colours. I think it’s cool how Moholy-Nagy is playing with the idea of capturing something natural, like a flower, but doing it in this totally abstract way. The texture is like a ghostly imprint. You can almost feel the delicate petals, even though it’s just light and chemicals on paper. There is a scratch across the surface – a line running through the middle of the image, adding to the sense of ghostly memory. It reminds me a bit of some of Christian Marclay’s work, where he's using the surface of old vinyl records, the scratches and pops, as part of the piece itself. Art is always a conversation, right?