Kalk Bay Modern: Kali van der Merwe Photography at Kalk Bay Modern

Kalk Bay Modern is pleased to announce that we are now featuring photographic work by the immensely creative and prolific Kali van der Merwe. Award winning filmmaker, avid photographer and artist, Kali's featured work is a creative expression of mythological and archetypical states of being using herself (woman) as subject. There is no doubt either that the natural landscape surrounding her home (close to Baardskeerdersbos) is also an enormous influence. Being inspired by the amazing diversity of Fynbos Kali weaves powerful, ethereal images of human and plant forms together illuminated by torchlight.

In her own words Kali shares insight into this series of photographs aptly titled,
Dark Light - images of re-awakening.
"Scientists have discovered the visible world accounts for less than 5% of the matter in the universe. They have little understanding of what the other 95% is composed of and termed it dark matter and dark energy. We are in the dark and the cosmos is composed of the dark. Analogous is the genesis of my images, which are birthed at night and emerge from a subliminal place in myself. I use a photographic technique called Light Painting to give image form. It employs long exposure and movable light sources, breaking away from the literal into the interpretive, allowing for the visionary to manifest. My process is one of inner awakening, searching for intersections where personal meets primal, individual becomes archetypal, human touches divine. I use my female body to explore these depths. Invariably I am naked, casting off culture for a more essential reality. This solitary creativity frees me from inhibition and translates my inspiration directly without the gaze of another. My rational self is confined to the technical details of the camera, allowing my unconscious self, freedom to surface through gestural performance in front of the lens. Painting in light enables me to transcend corporeal reality, transforming flesh into vital energy forms and allowing the mythic to manifest. In this space, I find intuitive dialogue with a myriad of primordial selves. My images are forged directly in camera. There is no digital manipulation involved. I prefer to work with mediated chance, fusing locality with temporality. My intention is to re-awaken and re-invigorate the female spirit in all her ancient and contemporary multiplicity."