Pentlow photographer’s project shows impact of pollution on nature

To the naked eye, the effect of pollution on nature may not always be readily apparent – but, in the right light, all becomes clear.

Suffolk visual artist and photographer Edward Wright encountered this first-hand when experimenting with advanced camera technology – and the results formed the basis of his latest collection.

The Pentlow resident has exhibited Folia – a portfolio of pictures showing the hidden aspects of nature beyond the visible light spectrum – at art galleries in London, since graduating from the Royal College Art with a master’s degree in photography earlier this year.

The collection was created using ultraviolet (UV) fluorescence photography – a technique which uses special camera filters to capture visible light emitted by an object that has been induced with UV radiation.

Mr Wright, of School Road, told the Free Press: “It’s the same principle as when you shine a black light, and it brings up things you can’t see with the naked eye.

“I tried it out by taking pictures of plants in different areas of London and Suffolk. What I noticed is that there were all these marks on the leaves that didn’t exist in Suffolk, but, in London, they were covered in all this grime.

“Whether it’s brake dust or exhaust fumes, I thought it was interesting to see. Even when you can’t see the damage, it’s still there, but it’s not necessarily visible.”

After compiling a selection of these distinctive images, Mr Wright showcased them in a group exhibition called Savouring Shadows, which took place at Copeland Park gallery in Peckham.

Folia was then featured again in Battersea Past, Present and Future, a show hosted by the Battersea Society to highlight the finalists and winners of the organisation’s annual 2023 Photography Award.

Having returned home to Pentlow during the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, after years away in the capital city, Mr Wright previously assembled a series called 47 Days in Constable Country – a collection of landscape photos taken in the countryside over the seven-week period.

This project, which utilised infrared photography to show the scenes in a different light, was later compiled into an A6 booklet titled A Little Book of Infrared Landscapes.

Mr Wright, who previously studied at the University of Westminster, added: “I’m interested in technology and photography, so the overlap between them is something I’m pushing myself towards.

“My work is largely about people and the spaces they occupy, with an emphasis on never showing what the people in the images look like.

“I do this, as I feel that a lot of photography is about what the people in frame look like and not who they are or the story trying to be told.

“With each of my projects, I try a new photographic technique, layered with what has been learned from my previous projects.

“I try offering a window into parts of the world that the public would otherwise not see. I enjoy the discovery of getting access to a place and discovering what lays within.”

To find out more about Mr Wright’s work, including his back catalogue of past collections, go online to edwardwright.co.uk.