"A Place Like This" Liz Nielsen at Park House Houston

Liz Nielsen’s work resides on the border between photography and painting. Her fascinating process involves preparing different paper cutouts and rehearsing her movements before entering the darkroom. Then, she places the work on the photosensitive paper in complete darkness, following a preconceived choreography of rehearsed movements. Shining different colored lights over the material's surface, she imprints colors that are then developed with traditional chemicals. Her process is a contemporary interpretation of a primitive photographic technique that does not involve a camera, positioning her as a pioneer in this field.

Her one-of-a-kind images are not mere representations but rather luminous manifestations of abstraction, where the physical process is as vital as the resulting work. Nielsen’s light paintings are charged with metaphors for human connection hidden within her shapes.

Drawing inspiration from various sources—from quantum physics to mysticism—Nielsen invites viewers to explore realms beyond the visible. Her work bridges the gap between the tangible and the ethereal, encouraging us to see light as a medium but also as an analogy for energy, connection, and transformation.

While she works in the dark, there’s a moment of surrender. Much like in real life, we aim at a particular direction with an idea of what we might find, but results can be unpredictable. We learn how to anticipate and adjust, but an element of the unknown is always present. Trusting the process is part of the result.

Liz Nielsen's art challenges our perceptions, demonstrating that light can be both the subject and the storyteller. In doing so, she redefines the possibilities of visual expression and invites us to embrace the unseen and the infinite potential of imagination.

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