Photography as Expanding Form: Virtual and actual expansion in the work of Saron Hughes and Martina Corry

This article considers the notion of expanding photography in relation to the work of Saron Hughes and Martina Corry. Both artists produce work that challenges conventional readings of the photograph. Hughes’ A1 Still Life causes pictorial confusion — within photographic representation— and suggests the possibility of virtual expansion. Corry’s Colour Works series also generates pictorial ambiguity, yet this arises from the actual expansion of the photograph. Shaped into three-dimensional forms, Colour Works posits the photograph as an object. These distinct examples of expanding photography both employ folding as a method. Their contrasting approaches converge in their exploration of the fold’s ability to transform a flat paper surface into a three-dimensional form. This article explores the operations of the fold through the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze. Hughes’ and Corry’s expanding photography correlates with accounts of internally and externally generated media expansion (derived from Rosalind Krauss and Peter Osborne). The virtual and actual expansion of photography here will be read in conjunction with art historical and theoretical notions of medium.