James Nizam
Superposition, 2023; Archival Pigment Print. 32”x40” Edition of 7

Superposition is a site-specific work that transforms an ordinary room into something both sculptural and photographic—spatial and illusory. A circle within a square is mapped onto the space, and then divided into vertical bands that cut through the walls and floor. These cuts peel back the drywall to reveal the building’s hidden structure—wood studs and the interior framework that usually remains concealed.

In doing so, the work shifts between two surfaces: the physical skin of the room and the optical surface of the photograph, where structure is reconstituted as image.

Each band carries a fragment of the geometry, distributed across the depth of the room. The image does not exist as a continuous form in space. Instead, it is staged to align from a single, fixed viewpoint—the position of the camera. From that precise perspective, the fragments come together and resolve into a perfect circle within a square. The lines appear ordered, the geometry coherent.

Move even slightly away from the camera’s position, and the image breaks apart. The vertical bands fold across the floor, walls, and ceiling; the circle dissolves, and the cuts return to a scattered set of interruptions across the architecture. The illusion collapses.

In this sense, the work is anamorphic: it depends on a specific point of view to become legible. The photograph is not simply documentation, but the completion of the piece—compressing depth into a flat image and fixing a moment of alignment that exists only between the camera and the architecture.

Next
Next

Carla Tak