Amanda Williams

In an age anaesthetised by smartphone photography, Amanda Williams works within the material, chemical and physical constraints of large format silver gelatin photographic printing, fibre based papers and analogue, black and white, medium format film. Being material as opposed to digital, these things have a shelf life after which time their behaviour ceases to be predictable. The analogy of an afterlife, rather than a death, with the suggestion of spirit that this implies. Williams manipulates material phenomena to subtle superphenomenal ends, combining these practical negotiations and the physical energetics of this type of printing at this mural scale to work within the traditional genre of Romantic landscape photography. Anselm Adams a looming precipice in this terrain. The two large prints by Williams in Peace Altitude are the outcome of one of her recent visits to Australian alpine regions, lands protected by National Park status. At different times of day, exposures on both expired and unexpired film, Williams documents 'untouched' vistas with the tactility of her light sensitive materials, “inundating” them. The effect of her methods is like that of an extremely detailed drawing in something as material and as landscape originating as charcoal. In the making of the documentation and in titling these works, questions of the appropriateness of the term ‘wilderness’ arise and to whose experience and control of the landscape that applies/implies. Williams adds to her titles acknowledgement of traditional owners, in this case the Wolgalu and Ngarigo peoples of the Australian alpine region.*

Source: Catalogue for Peace Altitude - Nabilah Nordin, Salote Tawale, Amanda Williams, 2019 at The Commercial, Sydney Commercial, Sydney