Fathom and Fray is the culmination of Caleb Charland’s photographic inquiries into space, time, and energy. In the tradition of Eadweard Muybridge and Dr. Harold Edgerton, he combines science and art in curious experiments designed to further his understanding of the world. Unlike his forebears however, Charland's photographs rarely provide us with proof, but rather pose questions and offer possibilities.



Finding resonance in matter as diverse as a cardboard box, bacteria, and smoke, Charland manipulates and transforms these mundane elements by means of repeated actions, interventions, and performance. The resulting images give us a glimpse of his irrepressible curiosity while providing us with confounding and often revelatory visions alluding to the cosmos and the metaphysical.



As Charland states, “Even within the well tested laws of science there are, and must always be, pathways to reinterpretation and discovery. My hope is that these pictures rest in the gap between knowledge and uncertainty.”