Lisa Bakke, Photography Artist, Norway

Art Statement /ABOUT Alternative Photographic Process

Lisa Karina Bakke's work is experimental alternative photography using Lumen and Cyanotype. These two techniques stem from cameraless photography that was first used in the late 1830s. Lisa uses mainly botanical elements from her garden or nearby forest in Konnerud, Norway.

Lisa´s alternative photographic process has been a natural progression from her previous mixed mixed art using photopolymer art. Breaking the boundaries between different art forms is what mixed media is all about. Lisa strongly believes that art has no boundaries and experimenting with the cameraless techniques of Lumen and Cyanotype has lead her to the path to create abstract botanical elements.

Lisa found great inspiration in the works of Belgian artist Pierre Cordier (born 1933) who invented chemigrams in the late 1950´s. Chemigrams is something that Lisa also is incorporating in her artwork – combining the physics of photography and painting. Lisa´s inspiration is her daily walks in her nearby forest. Nature has always been an important part of her life since early childhood.

Lisa´s previous artworks were Mixed Media art – that involved mixing different creative mediums to create work that incorporates two or more art forms. For example, drawing on top of photography prints or adding sculpture to painting. In her case it was Photopolymer art, Chine Colle and she had an artistic international art collaboration with Japanese calligraphy artist Nakajima Hiroyuki, glass artist Saito and Haiku poet Yasuko Fujie from Japan. Artwork that culminated in exhibitions at art galleries in Kongsberk, Drammen Museum and the botanical department at the University of Bergen were the Japanese ambassador to Norway had visited twice.

Main Objectives

Lisa´s main objective is to continue the path exploring alternative photographic process like Lumen and Cyanotype and using various botanical elements in her artistic ongoing work. I am able to fully realise the positive impact that nature has had upon my formative years, and still is and how important nature is for my children too. Nature is what moves us. The artwork shows life with nature.

This is why my previous exhibitions were also held in nature too, in the woods of Andorsrud.