Camera Obscura presents two video works by Elena Malkova, which employ this elemental tool in the development of photography, positing it as a device to reconsider the history of the medium itself. The camera obscura (Latin for dark room) projects light through a small aperture and inverts the image of the world outside onto the opposite wall of the space. In Portraits (2011), Malkova explores the history of portrait photography referring to the long exposures of early cameras. The video piece highlights the efforts of first experimenters to capture a still image of a moving world. In the Light of the Camera Obscura (2012) merges the visual wonder of the dark room with lighting effects developed by dance innovator Loïe Fuller (1869-1928). In this video-based installation, Malkova recreates Fuller’s dance while becoming a moving backdrop for the camera obscura projection. Both pieces invite the viewer to look within the basic mechanism of a camera.