Arts Preview: David Clarke frames Polaroid tribute

FROM PHOTOGRAPHY TO MUSIC: A CREATIVE DIALOGUE BETWEEN DAVID CLARKE AND CHAN HING-YAN

Between 2007 and 2008, David Clarke took a series of still life images using a classic Polaroid SX-70 camera and its instant film that has since become obsolete. For this series of snaps of flowers and fruits titled "Portraits of Things", which is on view at the University of Hong Kong, Clarke experimented with effects that could only be achieved by deliberately misusing the instant film.

The photos were scanned and printed in scaled-up formats on fine art paper without digital manipulation. The series highlights the ephemeral nature of the medium and of life itself.

"I have always loved the very distinctive visual quality of Polaroid," says Clarke, a long-time professor at the university's department of fine arts.

"It's a whole visual world with its own properties. It was often infuriating to use since the failure rate is very high, but I like to explore the accidental effects that can be achieved, treating defects as creative inspiration."