In Folded Planes, Cape Town photographic artist Leah Rolando treats the photograph as something that can be shaped rather than simply viewed. Images printed onto Perspex are heated, folded and bent into sculptural forms, replacing the flat picture plane with surfaces that shift according to angle and position.

The works begin digitally. Rolando uses 3D modelling software to design each form before the Perspex is shaped using industrial machinery. Those carefully planned folds then meet another variable: light. Hard studio lighting creates shadows, reflections and secondary images around the work, some anticipated and others only emerging once the object is installed.

The exhibition develops ideas first explored in Rolando’s 2025 series All Sorts, which photographed hand-built and laser-cut constructions. In Folded Planes, that relationship is reversed. The photograph no longer records the object; it becomes the object.

This changes how the image is encountered. A fold can interrupt one section while revealing another, reflections can extend the work beyond its physical edge, and the image can appear differently from one side than it does from another. Looking becomes an active part of the work rather than a fixed viewpoint.

Rolando’s wider practice combines constructed photography, optical illusion, colour and controlled lighting. After studying film and media and working as a multimedia producer, she moved into commercial and fine-art photography, developing an approach built around staged sets, Perspex and sharply defined areas of light and shadow.

Images courtesy of Knysna Fine Art and Leah Rolando.

Exhibition Details

Leah Rolando | Folded Planes
Knysna Fine Art

Exhibition dates
26 September – 25 October 2026

Opening reception
26 September 2026 at 11:00