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Jennifer Weihmann, “Lying with Shadows,” 2018-19

pigmented archival prints, 12.5” x 19”

Rotting poplar leaves seem an unlikely source of beauty. But Calgary-based photographer Jennifer Weihmann’s close-ups are beguiling plays of line, colour and form.

In Lying with Shadows, for instance, lacy veins of a decomposing leaf catch the light. A winding shadow adds contrast, while patches of purplish-pink build visual interest. It’s an intriguing image, almost abstract, yet also completely realistic.

Weihmann, who is showing a dozen of her photographs of poplar leaves at the Christine Klassen Gallery in Calgary until Aug. 17, describes her work as painterly. 

“Most people walk away and they refer to my photographs as paintings,” she says. “And I just love that.” 

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Jennifer Weihmann, “Fall on Me,” 2018-19

pigmented archival prints, 26.5” x 40”

Weihmann picks fresh poplar leaves and soaks them in water for several months, until any  remaining bits of the fleshy green can be rinsed away. Then, stretched out on the floor of her apartment, she holds the leaves up to the sunlight – sometimes while they are still wet – searching for angles and compositions she likes. 

“When they’re wet they just get a little brighter,” she says. “It’s like the sun shining through stained glass."

For Lying with Shadows, the mysterious pink comes from a strand of seaweed she juxtaposed behind the leaf.

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Jennifer Weihmann, “Complementary,” 2018-19

pigmented archival prints, 12.5” x 19”

The show’s opaque title, In Between and the Resolve, reveals her work as a metaphor for human relationships. Weihmann speaks of a new friend who is overseas, and her deep affection, but also her uncertainty about what will happen.

The leaves, with their light and shadow, fragility and strength, singularity and multiplicity – along with many other dualities – are a powerful stand-in for conflicted feelings that are hard to express.

“I feel like I’m almost cursed because I love people so much and I connect with all sorts of people and I think everybody is beautiful,” she says. “Generally, a primary source of inspiration for me is how I cope with these relationships and friendships that I make.”

Weihmann, who grew up in Grande Prairie, Alta., says her process is meditative and, at times, becomes almost a daily necessity.

“Every time I open the shutter I can feel a physical tension release from within,” she says. “So I have to do it.” ■

Jennifer Weihmann: In Between and the Resolve is on view at the Christine Klassen Gallery in Calgary from July 6 to Aug. 17, 2019.

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