Photography can act as a time machine, allowing one to return to ephemeral moments that have been held still within the image. For this to occur, the photographic surface must be marked by light and time, forces that similarly shape the human body. Marked by Light draws together four artists that use photography as a tool for returning to lost pasts, while recording the unfolding of life around them, in all of its precious and fleeting forms. 

Agnieszka Sosnowska photographs daily life in her adoptive home of Iceland, where she works as a teacher at a small countryside school. Her work draws heavily on the experience of living on a remote farm – Kleppjárnsstaðir in the east of Iceland – a place constantly entangled with more-than-human forces. She recently published the monograph För (Trespasser Books), drawing together over 20 years of work. 

“It was late last summer when we visited for the first and last time together, when the meadows were being cut for hay.” From this opening line, Kiowa Casey’s San Amado pays homage to her mother who passed away in May 2023, following chronic struggles with alcoholism. It is a testament to the distance that lies between individuals – in this case mother and daughter – that is constantly navigated and sometimes overcome by love and acceptance. 

Giulia Vanelli’s The Season is a journey through memories of childhood and youth woven amidst the summer seasons of a small seaside village. It is an ode to the lengthened days and slow cycles that accompany rural summer months, in ways that can bring both comfort and claustrophobia in equal measure. The Season was recently published by Witty Books (2024). 

In Yana Wernicke’s Companions one witnesses the bond cultivated over time between Rosina and Julie, and the animals they rescue. Situated in a small town outside Frankfurt, the title has its origins in the German word ‘Weggefährten, which tranlates literally as ‘those who walk the path together. Companions was recently published by Loose Joints (2023).