Surface Memory

Surface Memory explores the material traces left by interactions between photographic emulsion, object, light, chance, and time. Many of the works began as lumen prints, with silver gelatin photographic papers or glass plates exposed to sunlight amongst garden foliage. The light sensitive surfaces respond to sun, rain, and the damp undergrowth, capturing evidence of a garden in disarray – some hopeful lavender, eternal mint, vibrant crocosmia, and the unexpected beauty of oxalis and milkweed. After exposure, papers or plates are scanned and enhanced to reveal detail and colour, creating an analogue/ digital hybrid trace of the chance interaction between the photographic surface and the unruly beauty of the garden. Other works investigate the characteristics of photographic materials: Expired photographic papers, chemistry, and emulsions lifted from their substrates are used to investigate the interplay between surface, medium and chance.

Artist bio:

Deidra is a Wellington based artist, educator, writer, and occasional curator. Recent bodies of work have been exhibited at Webb’s gallery (2025), The Tote Modern (2025), Te Auaha gallery (2023, 2022), and at the Engine Room in Quicken (2020). She has written for Photoforum, and her essay ‘Unsettled histories,’ was published in Camus Wyatt’s In Some Smothering Dreams (Rim books, 2024).

Deidra Sullivan, Kentmere Glossy & Alstroemeria, 2026. Archival inkjet print. Digital/ lumen hybrid from original lumen photograph.