Women Behind the Camera: Vera Lutter

Drawing on one of the earliest forms of photographic technology, Vera Lutter (German, b. 1960) creates monumental photographs of compelling architectural spaces. She first builds a camera obscura by darkening the interior of closed spaces—a suitcase, shipping container, or apartment—and leaving a small pinhole opening for light to enter. Placing light-sensitive paper opposite the opening, Lutter then exposes an image of the exterior view on the paper for an extended period of hours, days, even months. The unusually long exposure time challenges notions of photography’s instantaneity, producing images that capture the passage of time rather than a singular moment. For Ca' del Duca Sforza, Venice II: January 13–14, 2008, Lutter transformed a room in the Palazzo Sforza into a camera to create a stunning and uncanny view of the Grand Canal in Venice.
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