In 1975 Clarke traveled to Java to study batik before returning to Santa Barbara. She cofounded Homes For People, and then traveled internationally with her kids for several years. Then in the nineties, she picked up a Holga medium format camera. The allure of the Holga was the nontechnical for Clarke, “there is nothing getting between the lens and you connecting to images.”

The name Holga comes from the Cantonese Chinese words “ho gwong” which mean “very bright,” as the camera requires plentiful light to capture pictures. The photos often have shadowy vignettes and light-sprayed fans fluttering across the visual field; the pinpoint depth of field billows out voluminous rounded universes that erase some details, softly highlight others, and as the image dissipates into the edges, dissolve borders between image and reality. Dreamscapes. Phantoms. Quiet, insular images that create isolated worlds in antithesis to digitally enhanced art brand campaigns.   Debra Herrick, Lum Art Zine