Practice — Alexander James Hamilton

The photograph is a physical event. Light acts upon matter over time within constructed conditions.

A four decade photographic practice developed through remote expeditions, extended residencies, site reactivation and the construction of research infrastructures.

Photography forms the central axis of the work. Other media, including film, sculpture, lighting and site specific installation, are employed in direct support of photographic production.

Each project operates as the structure where singular works are developed in controlled research environments. Sculptural staging, water and light converge, with the resulting photograph as the sole material resolution of a planned and constructed physical event. The unsayable is not buried inside the work, it is what prompts the work in the first place.

The work is initiated by conditions that cannot be fully defined in advance, and is realised through a negotiated process between constructed systems and natural forces.

All works produced after November 2013 are realised as unique works, accompanied by two artist’s proofs that differ in scale and execution. No editions are released.

Alexander James Hamilton
(also known as Alexander James)
b. 1967, London.
study of light caustics
studio, Madrid.