Images impact how we feel. In 2015, Professor Stella Chan founded Project Soothe at the University of Edinburgh to research this concept in detail. The global citizen science project, now based at the University of Reading, involves building a bank of soothing photographs with the purpose of improving people’s mental health and wellbeing. Everyone is invited to submit their calming pictures to the study through the Project Soothe website. Visitors can run through as many images as they like in the Gallery, whilst ranking each on a sliding scale that asks “how soothing?” Rolling meadowlands, glittering lakes, sunset skies and baby kittens create a space that puts our minds at ease. Satijn Panyigay (b. 1988) aims to do the same with her photography. However, her focus veers away from the natural world and instead spotlights the beauty found in emptiness and simplicity. The Dutch-Hungarian lens-based artist is known for her images of vacant locations – office interiors, newly constructed homes, museum rooms – that inspire tranquillity because of their neat lines, plain colours and lack of distractions. Such scenes invite us to slow down and appreciate the everyday moments we would often overlook in our fast-paced modern lives.
Now, Panyigay calls us to notice the calming beauty of urban exteriors in her series Nightcall, which is on display at Galerie Peter Sillem, Frankfurt. The idea for this project came about whilst the lens-based artist was going on a number of nocturnal strolls through her hometown of Utrecht and Frankfurt am Main. Unintentional compositions in urban structures caught her attention and she decided to document them in this impressive collection of soothing night-time scenes. In one shot, we look up at rows of windows that seem to be filled to the brim with inky darkness. Marble or concrete tiles making a chevron pattern that surrounds these voids. It’s an image that is full of tonal contrasts, from the white frames to the grey slabs.
Like moths, our eyes flit to the light in such dark settings. Panyigay uses light to guide our eyes across compositions in Nightcall. For example, one piece shows rows of empty rooms in a multi-story skyscraper. Everywhere is dark except for one square opening, which is illuminated by a bright electric light from within. Who has left it on? Why? Paradoxically, the absence of people evokes a sense of presence here. We wonder about the people who will once again fill the office and bring life to the setting in the morning. Elsewhere, the glow from a streetlamp shows its warped reflection on a grid of glossy black tiles. It’s fascinating to see the light warp and disperse – like a mini nebula. Panigay blurs the distinction between moonlight and street lamps in these analogue photographs. In this way, contrasts emerge from the utilitarian landscape. Attuning our senses to the beauty of the night reveals an array of intriguing sights.
Being a viewer can be exhausting, especially when we are inundated every minute by a torrent of fresh images online. Nightcall is an invitation to slow down and enjoy the act of looking. We join Panyigay’s midnight stroll to observe with calmer eyes. The darker hours mean we have to choose what we want to linger on since not everything is illuminated. What do we gravitate towards visually? What associations spring to mind? And, how do they make us feel? Drawn to the ethereal realm of the night and its enigmatic yet peaceful ambiance, Panigay invites us into encounters with a parallel world that reflects our own.
Galerie Peter Sillem, Satijn Panyigay: Nightcall | Until 24 August
Words: Diana Bestwish Tetteh
Image Credits:
- Satijn Panyigay, Nightcall I-03. 2024. Pigment print on lustre paper, black frame with museum glass, 160 x 107 cm, edition of 3 + 1 AP / 105 x 70 cm, edition of 2 + 1 AP.
- Satijn Panyigay, Nightcall II-10. 2024. Pigment print on cotton rag paper, black frame with museum glass, 90 x 120 cm, edition of 3 + 1 AP / 52.5 x 70 cm, edition of 2 + 1 AP.
- Satijn Panyigay, Nightcall II-02. 2024. Pigment print on cotton rag paper, black frame with museum glass, 120 x 90 cm, edition of 3 + 1 AP / 70 x 52.5 cm, edition of 2 + 1 AP.
- Satijn Panyigay, Nightcall I-03. 2024. Pigment print on lustre paper, black frame with museum glass, 160 x 107 cm, edition of 3 + 1 AP / 105 x 70 cm, edition of 2 + 1 AP.
- Satijn Panyigay, Nightcall I-04. 2024. Pigment print with glossy acrylic, black block frame, 70 x 105 cm, edition of 2 + 1 AP / 35 x 50 cm, edition of 3 + 1 AP.
