Fractured Lands, exhibition by Ella Morton and Dafna Talmor in Philadelphia, United States

Presented in conjunction with the 20/20 Photo Festival, Fractured Lands brings together the work of artists Ella Morton and Dafna Talmor in an evocative two-person exhibition at The Halide Project. This exhibition is part of The Halide Project’s ongoing commitment to analog and historic process photography and aligns with this year’s 20/20 Photo Festival theme, “Structures.”

The show opens with a public reception on Friday, September 4, from 5:00 to 8:00 pm, and runs through Sunday, October 19, 2025.

Curated by Dale Rio, Fractured Lands examines how photographic destruction can become a generative act. Both artists begin with analog images of landscapes and then physically intervene in their materials to reconstruct new images that challenge traditional notions of landscape photography. Morton uses the Japanese technique of kintsugi to piece together broken images of Arctic environments, drawing attention to the critical state of the natural world. Talmor slices and reassembles her “failed” negatives into complex composite images, transforming discarded material into a master negative and interrogating the assumptions and colonial histories embedded in landscape photography.

Special programming includes Light Talks with each artist: Talmor will speak on Monday, September 22, at 5:00 pm, followed by Morton on Monday, October 20, at 7:00 pm.

Ella Morton is a Toronto-based artist whose expedition-based practice has taken her to residencies and projects across Canada, Scandinavia, Latin America, Greenland, and Antarctica. She employs experimental analog processes to capture the sublime and fragile qualities of remote landscapes. Her work seeks to reveal how photography can convey more than a straightforward depiction of reality, exploring how the alchemy of analog techniques can be reimagined today to tell deeper, more layered stories.www.ellamorton.com

Dafna Talmor is a London-based artist and lecturer whose practice encompasses photography, video, curation, and collaborative projects. Her ongoing series, Constructed Landscapes, transforms everyday snapshots of landscapes into abstract, contemplative spaces that challenge the way we experience and interpret landscape photography. Talmor’s work is included in collections such as the Victoria and Albert Museum and Deutsche Bank, and has been featured in major publications and international exhibitions.www.dafnatalmor.com