ARJA HOP
POLYGON SYNTHESIS
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Plants / Geometric Forms / Photographic Transformation
Polygon Synthesis is an ongoing analogue photographic research into the relationship between plant structures, constructed geometry and material transformation.
In the photograms, plants are brought together with geometric polyhedra composed of individual facets. The geometry introduces a deliberately constructed spatial order, while the plants retain the irregularity and specificity of their physical structures. Within the photographic process, both become subject to light, chemistry and time.
The individual facets divide the photographic surface into differentiated areas and intervals, allowing variations in density, transparency and tonal transition to emerge. Geometry functions here not simply as a formal element, but as a structure through which transformation can become perceptible.
The plants are collected where I encounter them in ruderal environments: along roadsides and railway verges, on disturbed ground and between paving. Their leaves, stems, flowers and seed structures interact directly with light during the formation of the image. The plant is therefore not simply represented; its physical presence participates in the photographic event.
The photographic image itself remains materially unstable. Changes in tone, contrast and surface continue beyond its initial formation, allowing transformation to remain present within the work.
Individual works can be experienced autonomously, while together they form an expanding series in which variations in plant structure, geometry and photographic transformation become visible. Repetition does not produce identical images, but reveals difference within a shared set of conditions.
Polygon Synthesis brings constructed order into relation with processes that cannot be completely predetermined. The resulting image emerges through the interaction of plant, geometry, photographic matter, light and time.
Botany
This project pays particular attention to a number of plant species encountered along the streets between my home and studio, including Plantago major subsp. major, Plantago coronopus, Plantago lanceolata, Lepidium virginicum, Cirsium vulgare, Chelidonium majus, Linaria vulgaris and Cynodon dactylon.
These plants grow spontaneously along the routes I travel every day, whether as native, established or introduced species. Several are so-called trampling plants, while others are characteristic of dry, nutrient-rich or regularly disturbed habitats such as railway embankments, roadside verges, gaps between paving stones, pavements, the bases of walls and marginal vegetation.
Their presence is closely connected to environments continually shaped by human activity and disturbance. Common toadflax (Linaria vulgaris) and Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon), for example, can both occur on sandy, ruderal soils and are sometimes found growing alongside one another.
Rather than selecting plants solely for their visual characteristics, I work with species that inhabit these particular environments. Their leaves, stems, flowers and seed structures enter the photograms as physical material, where their specific structures affect the formation of the photographic image.
Photograms on black-and-white fibre-based photographic paper, 30.5 × 40.6 cm. Experimental black-and-white photographic process resulting in a metallic surface subject to ongoing oxidation.
© arja hop 2026