Void_Melbourne presents a new solo exhibition by Naarm/Melbourne-based artist Alex Walker, titled “the image is not merely a surface“. Running from 2 to 30 August 2025, the exhibition showcases a series of unique, one-off colour darkroom prints that expand the possibilities of analogue photography and invite viewers to reconsider what an image is—and what might exist beyond its surface.
Created entirely by hand in Melbourne’s Wetlab darkroom, each work in this series is printed only once. With bold abstract forms and vivid colour fields, the images are rich in material presence and conceptual depth. Walker’s practice is deeply rooted in expanded photographic theory, where the image is not just an object of vision, but a spatial and bodily experience.
“I have been hard at work in the Wetlab darkroom over the last few months, and I am very excited to finally share this new body of work,” Walker told M‑ARTLENS. “the image is not merely a surface, is a series of new large-scale colour darkroom prints. Each piece is unique, made by hand and only printed once. Full of rich, vivid colours and bold abstract forms, I have been deeply considering the surface of an image and what lies beyond it.”
The exhibition follows on from Walker’s recent projects, including Denouement (2024) and her participation in Spring1883 Art Fair (2025), and builds on the themes explored in Light | Intersection, her 2025 solo exhibition at PhotoAccess Canberra. In that exhibition—featured in an in-depth article and interview on M‑ARTLENS—Walker transformed photographic works into immersive, perceptual installations that asked viewers to physically engage with light and space.
“the image is not merely a surface” continues this trajectory, offering photographs not as static images to be viewed, but as singular, hand-crafted encounters between surface, light, and the act of perception.
Alex Walker is a trained darkroom photographer based in Naarm/Melbourne whose practice investigates the conceptual and material edges of photography. Working with analogue processes, projection, and installation, she explores the core elements of the medium: light, space, and perception. Her work expands the literal meaning of photography as “drawing with light”, and reimagines the photographic image as a spatial and phenomenological event.
Walker holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) from the Victorian College of the Arts and is currently a PhD candidate at Monash University. Her recent exhibitions include Denouement (2024), Light | Intersection (2025), and the Spring1883 Art Fair.
Exhibition Details
Artist: Alex Walker
Exhibition Title: the image is not merely a surface
Dates: 2–30 August 2025
Opening Event: Saturday 2 August, 4–6pm
Venue: Void_Melbourne
Address: Level 2, 190 Bourke Street, Melbourne CBD
Opening Hours: Thursday–Saturday, 12–5pm, or by appointment
