Lucent 2015 © Lucinda Wells

Light fantastic

Cafes started popping up and now art galleries are joining in the vibrancy and change happening around St Leonards on Sea, which can only be a good thing, since there are so few galleries for St Leonards’ artists to exhibit in. One of the latest ones to open their doors is Solaris run by art digital printer, Alexandra Drawbridge. HOT’s Lauris Morgan-Griffiths went along to see Solaris’ first solo show by photographer Lucinda Wells: In search of the Real: Lucent.

Photography is the creation of images from light and sensitised paper. Simple? Not exactly; simplicity can be complex to realise. Dependent on the photographer’s interests, sensibilities, subject matter, the different effects and atmospheres a creator wants to achieve, the resulting images can be mysterious and myriad.

In Search of The Real: Lucent © Lucinda Wells

Urban dictionary.com describes photography as ‘the art of capturing the beauty of life, the act of appreciating ‘the moment”. That could be a very apt description of Lucinda Wells’ approach to her work; meditative, beautiful, intriguing. It is purely of the moment and of light.

Inevitably, drawn to the vast vista outside her window when Lucinda moved into her flat on the Marina, she started to take photographs at night of the street lights blocking her open view of the sea. Then she moved on from the street lights to the sky, sea, stars and night time phenomena. After a while she noticed odd aberrations occurring: the light taking on different appearances, different qualities. Things crept in that she hadn’t observed; although subliminally, she may have been aware of something ephemeral out there, as forms seemed to emerge, evolve and mutate.

The odd occurrence might be strange, but she is a highly skilled photographer and since 2012 has taken thousands of images of the same view outside her window:  seen as a body of work, there is definitely something mystical going on. Lucinda evidently noticed it and so have people who have already visited the show – comments like “inspiring and very thought-provoking” and “subtle and complex. Heart lifting” show that they have also been moved and seen something ‘other’ in these light landscapes.

In Search of The Real: Lucent © Lucinda Wells

The show has been interestingly hung. As you walk in you are surrounded by these beautiful photographs of sky and sea ­– beautiful and magical images. Some are large, other smaller ones herded together in groups, allowing the eye to rove up and down and around. As I moved through the gallery, seeing from different angles, I noticed details emerging that I hadn’t originally observed.

As an exhibition it is difficult to describe because the effects of the show are seductive and subjective. Make of it as you will, but go and see it, see what you see, let it seep into you and make your own judgement

As Leonard Cohen wrote :

‘There is a crack in everything.
That’s how the light gets in.’

Lucinda Wells has seen the light, the beauty and the crack – as well as the beauty of the crack.

In Search Of The Real: Lucent is on at Solaris Print Ltd., 76 Norman Road, St Leonards on Sea, TN38 0EJ through September. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 1pm to 6pm.

Also in: Photography