When I see, I breathe light continues Natalie Hunter’s interest in photographic time, memory, the senses, motion, and light. In this body of work, Hunter considers the aperture of the camera in relation to the human eye as it sees light, and the mouth as it breathes. Embracing an experimental use of photography materials and camera function, she uses colour filters to distinguish layered moments in time and long exposures that trace her own bodily motions and thoughts through creation of these works.

“The resulting images are soft, imperfect, experimental, and ethereal multiple exposures that contain mirror imagery of my surroundings in addition to what I’m looking at with a lens.” – Natalie Hunter

Natalie Hunter holds an MFA from the University of Waterloo, and has shown her work in Canada and the United States in numerous exhibitions and public presentations including the Hamilton Supercrawl; the Art Gallery of Hamilton; University of Waterloo Art Gallery; Rodman Hall Arts Centre; Mississauga Living Arts Centre; Centre 3 for artistic + social practice; and Museum London among others. She is the recipient of several awards from Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts and in addition to her artistic practice is also a sessional instructor at the University of Waterloo. Natalie grew up in Hamilton, ON, where she currently lives and works.

Natalie Hunter wishes to acknowledge the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Superframe Framing Award.

Coinciding with the opening and exhibition of Natalie Hunter’s solo presentation When I see, I breathe light, this limited edition print is a miniature of her site responsive transparent film installation Scent of the Sun (Spring Equinox) produced in 2020 and presented for the first time at Smokestack Gallery.