Transforming the City with Light
My Light Art Photography
From Lumiere London 2016
The Lumiere Festival London 2016, produced by Artichoke, transformed the city into an open-air gallery, illuminating iconic landmarks and unexpected spaces with breathtaking light art installations. Over four nights, the capital’s streets, buildings, and public spaces became a canvas for international artists, drawing thousands of visitors into a world of creativity and spectacle.
A City Reimagined
Featuring more than 30 large-scale installations, the festival reimagined familiar locations. Les Voyageurs (The Travellers) by Cédric Le Borgne suspended glowing human figures in the air, evoking a dreamlike presence. Meanwhile, Janet Echelman’s 1.8 London hovered above Oxford Circus, a dynamic, floating net sculpture inspired by seismic energy. Other works, such as Aquarium by Benedetto Bufalino and Benoît Deseille, humorously converted a classic red telephone box into a fish tank, merging the ordinary with the unexpected.
Light Art Photography: Capturing the Ephemeral
As a light art photographer, I approached the festival with a desire to create abstract, one-of-a-kind interpretations of the installations. Using out-of-focus and double-exposure techniques, I transformed the light into expressive blurs and layered compositions, emphasizing movement, depth, and the interplay of illumination with the urban environment.
Ghosts of the Past in Granary Square – creative abstract photography
One of the most compelling locations for me was the Granary Square installation along the Regent’s Canal. Before the redevelopment of King’s Cross, this area was home to legendary nightclubs such as The Cross and Bagley’s, where I had spent countless hours immersed in music and energy. As I photographed the installation, I imagined the ephemeral light blurs I was creating as the ghosts of ravers past, lingering in the spaces that once pulsed with life. Through my lens, the festival’s glowing displays became echoes of a bygone era, merging past and present in a surreal, haunting tribute.
A Festival That Transformed London
Lumiere London 2016 was a groundbreaking event, demonstrating the power of public art to transform urban spaces and inspire collective experience. My light art photography series from the festival reflects its fleeting magic, capturing light not just as an artistic medium, but as a connection between memory, movement, and the city itself.
