Sculptural Experiments with Photography

A photograph doesn’t have to stay flat. In this new online course, artist Letha Wilson looks at what happens when photographs are cut, folded, layered, built up, and pulled into physical space, transforming a photograph into a three-dimensional object. Images become material to work with. They can take shape, cast a shadow, bend around a corner, or become part of a larger form.

Over five sessions, Letha introduces a range of ways to work with photographic images as sculpture, from layering and mounting prints to building forms and experimenting with photo transfers made with an inkjet printer. You work directly with your images, trying out different ways to cut, fold, attach, combine, and transform them. Along the way, there is plenty of room for things to go slightly wrong and for those surprises to lead somewhere interesting. The workshop also looks at how different papers, surfaces, and materials behave and how to troubleshoot the practical challenges that come with making photographic objects.

The physicality of the work becomes part of the conversation. You consider how a piece changes when it moves off the wall, how a photograph interacts with its surroundings, and how scale, structure, and materials affect the way an image is experienced. Letha also covers practical approaches to presenting the work, including cleat systems and other hanging methods for wall pieces, as well as considerations for freestanding sculpture.

This is an opportunity to loosen the idea of what a photograph can be. Bring images you’re already working with, make new ones, or simply start experimenting with materials and see where they lead. Through cutting, folding, layering, building, and rethinking the photograph as an object, you find new ways to give a photograph dimension and a life beyond the two-dimensional.