Marg Leddin
Cicada Dance Lines
Photograms, photographic paper/processes. Various dimensions. (See below for details.)
These cicada photograms explore the catastrophic north east bushfires over the last decade. The series depicts shells with various native flora collected around Albury/Wodonga and north east Victorian fire areas. Most cicada shells were found in fire areas in late summer following the fires.
The cicada’s myterious ability to regenerate in abundance after bushfires and memories of insects perfectly synchronised, dancing above the horizon in the bush environment of my childhood in the upper Murray inspired these photograms.
A photogram is a photographic image made without a camera. The cicada shells and native flora were placed directly onto the surface of photographic paper and exposed to light in the darkroom. Variations of transparency in different objects often revealed unfamiliar and unexpected tonal silhouettes. I love this unpredictable quality of the photogram.
The cicada photograms are a celebration of nature, and its noise in the Anthropocene. I hope they will bring some joy and happiness to the beholder.
Images
Top: Cicada Dance Lines 2018 (Photogram) L 800mm x H 450mm
Middle left: Three Cicadas and Gum Leaves, Huon Rail Trail, Wodonga 2018 (Photogram) L 150mm H 180mm
Middle centre: Three Cicadas and Flowering Gum Nuts, our Garden, Wodonga 2018 (Photogram) L 150mm x H 180mm
Middle right: Cicadas and Flora, Our Garden Wodonga 2018 (Photogram) L 650mm x H 750mm
Bottom: Cicada Mandala with Chris’s Gum Leaf Collection from Osborne Flat 2018 (Photogram) L 600mm x H 650mm
Marg Leddin has exhibited many times and also pursued a full time career in secondary and tertiary education in north east Victoria. Photography has been a constant passion. For Marg the crispness of a black and white image both simplifies and amplifies reality.
