Danika Cox

“Focussed vision pushed us out of the space, making us mere spectators. A remarkable factor in the experience of enveloping spatiality…is the deliberate suppression of sharp, focussed vision.”
Juhani Pallasmaa – The Eyes of the Skin

I have come to photography as a student of architecture; this is my first exhibition.

I had taken some photographs with my digital camera while the focussing mechanism was broken and found the blurred results intriguing. I was excited when, by chance, I also read the architectural theorist Juhani Pallasmaa’s writing on spatiality and focussed vision. When my camera came back from the repair shop I began to explore the theme more deliberately.

I conceive of this work as more painterly than traditionally photographic and am inspired by Monet’s studies of Rouen Cathedral. Where Monet captured diverse qualities of light, the technique I use works best in bright sunlight, when the contrast between light and shadow redefines the details that unfocussing has taken away.

I have moved beyond architectural subjects to more intimate scenes; from the enveloping space I invite the viewer to another time and place.
danikacox@ gmail.com