Haloselenography

During the preparation of Stjernhimmeln, I began a new photographic experiment on albumen paper inspired by August Strindberg’s Celestographs — this time inviting materials gathered directly from the city of Landskrona into contact with the photosensitive surface.

Seawater collected from the industrial harbor, the shoreline of the city, natural coastal areas, and the nearby island of Ven was evaporated into salt and mixed with egg white to prepare the paper before sensitization with silver nitrate. Each of the six unique prints was exposed to the full moon of September 8, 2025, with traces of seawater or algae remaining on the surface, and intentionally left unfixed — allowing salt, air, humidity, and time to continue shaping the image.

From these elements emerged halos, veils, and metallic constellations — a process I named Halocelenography.

Like Strindberg’s Celestographs of 1893–94, these works become mirrors of their environment. Yet here, the environment itself appears through moonlight and salt, in a quiet dialogue between sea and sky.

Rather than fixing a stable image, the process allows the photograph to remain open: sensitive to its surroundings, slowly transforming over time, and existing in a state between appearance and disappearance.

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Series of 6 albumen prints on Canson Ingres Pastel Blanc Naturel 130 g/m²

21.6 × 27.7 cm

Unique prints

Collection Landskrona Museum / Landskrona City