Imaginary Spaces

In atmospheric photographs, Bahia, Brazil-based artist Julia Kan draws on her experience in set design to explore the dynamics between space and image; volume and surface. She describes her practice as a means of “collecting spaces” through images and objects, exploring the duality of two- and three-dimensional compositions. A series titled Imagined Spaces documents landscapes from an enigmatic alternate reality, set in an unspecified time.

Imaginary Spaces “is an approximation between scenography and photography,” Kan says, where the setting is only realized in the final two-dimensional image. Small clay planes and rough-edged pieces appear much larger within the frame of a photo than in life, a “play with scale, where small clay pieces transform into an inhabitable place,” she says. The dark backgrounds and striking contrast with the bright clay highlight a stage-like presence, nodding to both the theatrical black box and the dark room for developing film as the places where, respectively, scenes unfold both physically and via chemical processes on paper.

Kan photographs her minimal, shadowy scenes from the perspective of a viewer looking toward a series of arches, apertures, and angles. The darkness beyond windows and around corners suggests a cinematic suspense, highlighting facades and the foreground while hinting at mysterious narratives and the unknown space beyond.

The artist’s work is currently on view at Ribeirão Preto Arts Museum through October 26. Find more on Kan’s website and Instagram.

All images © Julia Kan