Presenting a selection of 20 abstract colour prints drawn from Laure Tiberghien’s first monograph, Time Capsule highlights the French artist’s long-term research and experimentation with cameraless photography. Inspired by 19th-century processes, the photographer exposes light-sensitive paper directly to natural and artificial light sources, with vibrant results achieved through extensive hands-on procedures perfected in the studio and in the darkroom over a number of years. 

Created between 2017 and 2022, Tiberghien’s unique and carefully crafted compositions explore the visual effects caused by variations in exposure time, chemistry, and environmental setting. Removing all mechanical features such as lenses or negatives from the process of exposure, the artist’s organic practice allows for graphic accidents and pictorial surprises. Though reminiscent of colour-field painting, Tiberghien’s experiments embody photography’s primary and essential condition—the recording of chromatic traces of light on a photosensitive surface.

Defined by the artist as “time capsules,” Tiberghien’s luminous photograms expand beyond visual composition, capturing fleeting moments of light and their effects on the surfaces of the prints. The pictures vibrate with the energy of transformation—chemical burns, streaks of light, and iridescent patterns invite viewers to witness the act of creation itself. Using an unusual arsenal of photographic supplies including distressed archival papers, everyday flashlights, and cell phones, Tiberghien aims at “inventing images while going into the layers of photography,” to examine the medium’s material and creative potentialities.

Displayed along the platforms of Davisville Station, Time Capsule is a public installation of images offering an artistic interruption to the city’s flow and countering the traditional urban landscape, otherwise saturated with advertisements and wayfinding signs. Detached from any marketing consideration or documentary ambition, Tiberghien’s aesthetic interventions act as visual pauses, engaging commuters in a contemplative experience.

Presented by CONTACT. Supported by Pattison Outdoor Advertising.

Curated by Gaëlle Morel

• Laure Tiberghien (French, b. 1992), winner of the Louis Roederer Discovery Award at Rencontres d’Arles, France (2019), holds an MFA from École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, France. Since 2016, she has presented her photographs in solo and group exhibitions at Paris Photo; the Centre Pompidou Metz, France; and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, among other venues. Tiberghien’s work is included in the collections of the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; the Fondation Louis Roederer, France; and the Musée français de la photographie, Bièvres, France. Her first monograph was published in 2023 (Laure Tiberghien, texts by Erik Verhagen, Paris: RVB Books).

• Gaëlle Morel (French/Canadian, b. 1976), PhD, has been the Curator, Exhibitions and Public Engagement at The Image Centre, Toronto Metropolitan University, since 2010. Based on extensive archival research, her most recent exhibitions include Lee Miller, A Photographer at Work, 1932–1945 (2024); Stories from the Picture Press: Black Star Publishing Co. & The Canadian Press (2023); and Mary Ellen Mark: Ward 81 (with accompanying catalogue, 2023). In 2009, Morel was the guest curator of the photography biennial Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal. She is currently an instructor in the Film + Photography Preservation and Collections Management graduate program at Toronto Metropolitan University.