Thread Between Darkness & Light
Stella Brennan
Rim Books
English
Hardcover
120 pages
207 x 268 mm
2024
ISBN 9781991165244
Thread Between Darkness and Light began with the gift of a painting: a depiction of Rangitoto with a mysterious ruin in the foreground. Investigating its painter led Brennan to an 1897 photograph of her great-great-aunt Louise Laurent with her female classmates – students at the same art school Brennan attended a century later. Struck by this uncanny affinity with her previously unknown ancestor, Brennan embarked on a journey of research and revelation.
Cold-calling long-lost relatives, she unearthed an archive of Edwardian glass plate negatives, which a cousin had carefully preserved since Louise’s death in the 1960s. Despite being cracked and marred by mould and dirt, Brennan meticulously scanned the 300 fragile plates. Her first realisation of Louise Laurent and her husband William Winn’s 100 year-old archive was an immersive installation of 36 translucent silk banners, displayed in 2023 at Te Whare Toi, City Gallery Wellington.
This book delves deeper into these historical images, juxtaposing the passage of time with startlingly contemporary framings and content. There is even a string-assisted selfie of Louise and William together. On the other hand, the extreme damage sustained by some of the negatives, the cracked glass, peeling emulsion and blooms of mould speak to the time between then and now. It is this tension that animates the project – this superimposition of time and place. An evocative collaborative essay enlarges the historical and material context. Susan Ballard, Professor of Art History at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, Kirsty Baker, Curator at Te Whare Toi, and Lissa Mitchell, Curator of Historical Photography at Te Papa, bring their unique perspectives to a text that breathes life into these spectral images.
Brennan’s documentation of her discovery process is complemented by historian Ross Galbreath’s riveting account of Louise’s adventurous mother Lucie, tracing her journey from birth in a London workhouse, to the 1871 Siege of Paris, to her arrival with her three daughters in 19th-century Tāmaki Makaurau/ Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand. Thread Between Darkness and Light is not just a photobook; it’s a poignant bridge across generations, a tapestry woven from the traces of the past into the light of the present.
(source: https://www.rimbooks.com/wordpress/thread-between-darkness-light)
About the Artist
Stella Brennan is an artist based in Auckland, New Zealand. Her work has been shown in Australia, Asia, North America and Europe. Her videos have been exhibited in the Sydney and Liverpool Biennials and her installation Wet Social Sculpture, featuring whale song, psychedelic film and a fully operational spa pool, was a nominated finalist in the 2006 Walters Prize.
Brennan has curated the exhibitions Nostalgia for the Future (Artspace Auckland 1999), Dirty Pixels (Artspace, the Adam Art Gallery, the Dunedin Public Art Gallery and the Waikato Museum of Art and History, 2002-3), and co-curated Cloudland: Digital Art from Aotearoa New Zealand (The Substation Singapore, 2008). She has written essays for artists including Ann Veronica Janssens and Patricia Piccinini, as well as art criticism for magazines including Art Asia Pacific, Eyeline Magazine, Australia,the New Zealand Listener and Art New Zealand. Stella co-founded the Aotearoa Digital Arts discussion list and in 2008 she and Su Ballard edited the Aotearoa Digital Arts Reader, the first comprehensive text on digital arts practice in New Zealand.
stella.net.nz
(source: https://www.rimbooks.com/wordpress/thread-between-darkness-light)
About the Publisher
Rim Books is an artist run, artist /author focused publishing venture established in 1996 in Auckland, Aotearoa / New Zealand to produce and promote publications of photographic art, applied arts, art history and exhibition catalogues, that may not easily be taken on by more mainstream publishers.
rimbooks.com
(source: https://www.rimbooks.com/wordpress/about)
