Noel Rodo-Vankeulen

"Aura" (2009)

Aura is a body of work which captures through light, shadow and colour, the ephemeral properties, or aura, of my crystal family heirlooms (vases, plates, goblets, etc), some dating back to the early 19th century. While these objects contain sentimental value, and more importantly an historical significance within my own ancestry, I became interested in the ephemeral nature of how light (natural and projected) can be both a signature and transitory mark of an object; what I have come to refer to as its "spectral-character".

Over the course of producing these photographs the immaterial nature of my subject often became hypnotic, specifically with the length of time spent transfixed in the dark with these illuminations, and I began to observe the subtle differences in their spectrum and luminescence. Turning each glowing crystal object rendered a ghostly array of prismatic colour distinctive of a specific angle. I wondered if this same fascination of intoxicating and ethereal light ever captured the interest of my ancestors, perhaps investing them with the attachment and care to bring such delicate objects across an ocean?

By turning my lens and composing photographic illuminations the projections had in essence revealed a hidden presence that was not simply formal, but somewhat mystically and atmospherically connected. These traces are etched or sometimes "smoked" into each picture, exposing a set of unique descriptors that the objects themselves embody yet mask any real concrete reading of their physicality. The projections are a post-object, where presence and timelessness reign.