Liminal Traces and Spaces:
Photography by Eric P. Laverty

"Life lasts only a moment. Then another moment arises and dissolves into the flow. We live our life from instant to instant, never knowing what the next unfolding might provide. But then, something in all this catches our eye. We realize that every experience of our lifetime has been impermanent except one: there is an unchanging spaciousness in which all our changes float." Stephan Levine - 'A Year to Live'

Eric Laverty's innovative scanning, panorama, and video sequencing techniques position his action and interaction as the focus of extended, transitional performances. Through what he calls continuous vantage point perspective, or 'prolongance,' he extends the capture duration, allowing his movement to unfold within a single frame. This activates and then fixes time, momentum, gesture, and agency on the image sensor with a dynamic, contemporary cadence.

Laverty records his presence as it is woven into the scene through a physicality antithetical to traditional image-making practices. A process where each moment can be observed in real-time, accumulating and assembling as he negotiates gait, balance, and direction, intuitively responding to the environment and cues from his capture device. His collaborative methods reveal the liminal traces, fleeting cast of shadows, and enduring spaces in which life's impermanence unfolds into a rich, complex tapestry of fluid, abstract forms and compositions.

In a world where our consensus reality feels increasingly degraded, fragmented, or entirely absent, Laverty’s work offers a fresh perspective, urging a deeper attunement to how we move through and interact with our environment. His art speaks to the delicate balance between presence and absence, the ephemeral and the enduring, challenging audiences to reconsider their place within the shifting landscapes of contemporary life, wherever and however it may unfold. This exploration not only redefines the boundaries of photographic expression by manipulating time and perception but also elevates Laverty’s work as a critical commentary on the nuances of personal and collective experiences in the digital age.

Straightening the Staircase

Laverty employs a unique photographic technique by keeping the camera focused downward with the shutter open while navigating the Rubin Museum's spiral staircase in New York City. This method transforms the staircase's curvature into a linear rendering, capturing all five flights. Laverty warps spatial reality, merging continuous vantage points to challenge conventional perceptions. His work compresses and reconfigures space, flattening the architectural experience into a single, elongated frame, emphasizing the fluidity of perspective over the dynamism of objects in motion.