PROJECTS
Sting of Time
We all carry the fear of running out of time, transient moments, the end of something we love. But this limited time is also what makes life sublime. Diagnosed with a chronic illness, Vialle lives with this fear in her daily reality. Her condition is the place from which Sting of Time is born. Spending time in selected landscapes in the Netherlands and Belgium, she encapsulates fleeting moments by photographing the landscape. For her, these landscapes echo sentiments of the sublime yet melancholic.
Her methodology for this work emulates life cycles of nature, where decay is a platform for sprouting growth. Alongside photographing, she spends time collecting materials from the landscapes, which she later incorporates into paper. Transferring the essence of the space, the images are screen printed onto her handmade paper. The innate feelings experienced in a specific place become tangible, surpassing time, with the ability to be experienced forever. Vialle says: “The dead trees in these images provide the humus layer for the future growth plants and animals and makes them incredibly meaningful for the landscape. In these spaces wonder and fear live side by side. Just as nature is given a second life, what seems to be bleak at first actually has an ultimately hopeful message. In our society, pain and loneliness can be made visible, and even be addressed.”
Honkadori
During her courses at the LA School of Light in 2020, Vialle was brought into contact with artists from across the globe working with experimental mediums. Here she learnt the lumen print technique and created her series titled Honkadori. Emanating from Japanese poetry, the term honkadori is an indirect reference to a predated poem within a poem, generally recognised by its readers. Similarly, the Honkadori series was created through knowledge she already had, while taking inspiration from information shared by her peers.
In this work she brings together cyanotype and lumen print, two of her favorite techniques. By layering paper, objects or even chemicals she creates varying compositions. Her aim is to experiment with these mediums through process and personal feeling. Balancing the fine lines between control and surrender, she relies instinctively on primary design principles. She articulates the composition of the artwork and decides when to stop the light exposure. The end result is an ephemeral artwork, if it is exposed to more light it transforms, and will eventually vanish over time. To protect the light sensitivity of the artwork, the pieces on display are a replica of the originals. Vialle says: “With this project I challenge my own perfectionism by experimenting with new materials and embracing the unexpected and ever-changing results”
Lumens
A lumen print is a solar photogram - an image created on photographic paper, exposed by the sun. It began as one of photography’s earliest experiments in the 19th century.
The gallery below features a selection from lumen print series I’ve created.
Cyanotypes
Cyanotypes are one of the oldest photographic printing processes in the history of photography. The distinctive feature of the print is its shade of cyan blue, which results from its exposure to ultraviolet light. The gallery below features a selection from cyanotype series I’ve created.