Materialities of Optical Image Making

AbstractThis article examines the materialities of optical image-making through a series of bespoke image system artworks exploring the relationship between visibility, invisibility, and technological mediation. Drawing on historical precedents such as Giovanni Battista Della Porta’s optical illusions and Charles-Émile Reynaud’s Théâtre Optique, the research explores how contemporary devices can reframe our perceptual engagement with technologically produced images. Responding to Barbara Stafford’s concerns about declining conscious attention in an era of AI-driven image technologies, these works, Depth of Field (2023), Hallway (2024), and The Hidden Image Life of Lenses (2024), seek to reveal the optical histories and material mechanisms underlying image projection. Through strategies of exposing apparatuses, employing 3D-printed components, and reactivating historical lenses, the artworks create unfamiliar material encounters that prompt critical reflection on how we attend to images. This practice-based inquiry proposes an alternative to passive screen consumption by foregrounding light, materiality, and imaginative consciousness.