RUSSELL KLEYN/
RECLAMATIONS

Reclamations is a photographic series centred on the conservation and return of energy. The photographs present a view from inside a magical cave, although the night outside suggests a constant state of vigilance. The cave offers protection but remains jagged and uncomfortable.

Made in-camera in the studio alongside artist and collaborator Stuart Foster, the works combine a large amethyst crystal with projected environments. The background night scenes were produced using AI imaging software, then spatially mapped, augmented in real time, and brought back into a hands-on long-exposure photographic process as projections, usurping the machine-generated space through manual reworking. Constructed via trial-and-error light painting using projections, laser, strobe, and refracted light across the crystal and studio surfaces, the amethyst references earlier works from my Virgo (2023) series.

The works are visually seductive but carry an underlying tension between beauty and aggression. Titles are drawn from Nirvana’s Nevermind (1991), an album that was produced in a more mysterious time, pre-internet, in my final year of high school, a moment of resistance which saw the band rebelling against the very mainstream music system that created them. I was listening to this album with older ears while making these works, which push back against generative AI, idea theft and constant sharing.

Printed on iridium metallic paper and presented in custom metallic automotive spraypainted frames that deliberately connect these works to my sculptural practice, referencing car culture, reflectivity, and industrial processes.

Shown as part of
The Sublime (Group Show)
WEBBS, Wellington
16th June – 11th July 2026.