Zana Briski

We are pleased to present Zana Briski's inaugural exhibition with our gallery. Briski's Animalograms are one-of-a-kind photograms portraying wild animals, made in their natural habitats on light-sensitive paper and later developed in the artist's darkroom. These life-sized images of bears, newts, civets, and tarantulas, among other creatures, are made at night under a moonless sky. Using light-sensitive paper that she hangs up in the woods, the artist quietly and patiently waits for the animals to pass by, sometimes for nights at a time. When an animal appears, she makes a quick exposure with a flashlight, virtually imperceptible to the animal, and then collects her paper to develop it in a traditional darkroom. Only then is the image revealed: a magical and unique life-size silhouette of a wild animal, reflecting the majesty and fragility of the natural world.

Briski's Animalograms are one-of-a-kind photograms portraying wild animals, made in their natural habitats on light-sensitive paper and later developed in the artist's darkroom. Briski describes her process:

Working patiently and alone on moonless nights in wild places, I lay out large sheets of light-sensitive gelatin silver photographic paper. Once the paper is in position, I sit in the dark and wait for an animal to appear. Sometimes I wait night after night. I do not use a hide and I am in full view of the animal. This takes tremendous trust, openness and stillness.

When an animal passes in front of the photographic paper, I make a quick exposure with a small hand-held flash. It is so quick that the animal does not respond to the light. I collect the paper, store it in a lightproof box and later develop the photographic print in a traditional chemical darkroom. The photogram is then toned with pure gold, both to affect the coloration of the print and to ensure its archival stability.

The result is a unique and magical direct impression of a wild animal onto photographic paper. Each one a ghostly gift which reflects the fragility and majesty of the natural world.

Briski was born in London in 1966. A photographer from childhood, Briski graduated from the University of Cambridge before attending the International Center of Photography in New York. Briski is the recipient of two New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships (1996, 1998), Open Society Institute Fellowship (1999), Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize (1999), and the Lucie Humanitarian Award (2005), amongst other distinctions. Her film "Born Into Brothels" won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.