STARING INTO THE SUN (2023)
Luke Foley-Martin is an experimental abstract artist and established professional photographer. Luke is also a member of the AIPA (The Advertising and Illustrative Photographers Association) and CPS (Canon Professional Service).
Luke Foley-Martin is an experimental abstract photographer known for his vibrant explorations of colour and light. His work reimagines reality through a mixture of hand-made darkroom colour prints and film photography, creating striking and unconventional visuals that challenge perceptions.
Foley-Martin is also an accomplished commercial photographer with an extensive experience in the world of visual storytelling. With an ongoing presence in this industry for 11 years, his vibrant and experimental approach to work has garnered attention in the fashion and advertising industries, both locally and internationally. Luke's dedication to his craft has established him as a prominent figure in contemporary photography and art.
28 APRIL - 19 MAY 2023
Given it is their primary source of light, photographers almost always consider the sun. Yet they seldom directly photograph it as a subject. Sungazing is sometimes enacted as part of spiritual or religious practices, or as an alternative therapy, most often near dawn or dusk. However, it is considered extremely dangerous, and impossible to look at the sun for any length of time without damaging one’s vision or going blind.
Luke Foley-Martin’s exhibition combines real photographs of the sun with hand-made abstract simulations of celestial bodies created in the darkroom. Influenced by heliography and selected works by Hiroshi Sugimoto, Nicolai Howalt and Hiroshi Yamazaki, in ‘Staring into the Sun’ Foley-Martin risks his own eyesight to explore spaces between the real and imagined, vision and blindness.
