The decaying shell of the former Casemates prison, and street art in Florence, Italy may seem an odd paring, but beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder as international photographer and author Theresa Airey proves with her solo exhibition.

Florence Street Art and The Casemates, MetalPrints opens at the Windjammer II Gallery in the Fairmont Hamilton Princess this week.

An imaginative, multi-talented artist who loves exploring different techniques, Mrs. Airey was recently introduced to a new process which preserves photographic images for all time, and has used it exclusively for this exhibition.

Known as Metal Prints, the process infuses dyes directly into specially-coated aluminium sheets.

"Because the image is infused into the surface and not on it, the print takes on an almost magical luminescence," she says. "Metal Prints are more brilliant than paper prints, and the colours are more vibrant. In fact, they are durable archival prints which can be displayed without glass."

The archival value of a print should be judged not only by its resistance to degradation by ultra violet light and ozone exposure but also to moisture and surface damage, the photographer said.

"When these factors are brought into the equation, Metal Prints are an excellent way to preserve an image.

"They are ultra scratch-resistant, water and weatherproof, can be hung either indoors or out, and cleaned easily with any commercial glass cleaner. They will last for generations but, like any fine art print, Metal Prints should not be exposed to direct sunlight or high outdoor temperatures."

The new technique, and its positive qualities, will be music to the ears of Bermuda's art collectors, who know only too well how punishing the effects of our climate are, and how easily it can ruin their prized possessions, despite their best efforts. Mould, dampness, humidity, salt air, sunlight and high temperatures are among the common enemies which even expert framing cannot always deter.

While Metal Prints can be hung unframed, as someone whose attention to detail is meticulous, Mrs. Airey has chosen formal framing and glass for some images because she feels it makes them "more precious". Others are mounted, for rustic effect, on colour-washed wood panels.

In terms of her subject matter, the photographer has always been a visual history buff, which is why she was attracted to Casemates after seeing a photograph of an internal arch in an exhibition.

"I thought, 'I've got to go there', so I got permission from the Premier [Ewart Brown], who called Dr. Edward Harris, executive director of the National Museum of Bermuda.

"He let me in, and gave me some information. I also took some infrared pictures of the recently discovered tunnel for him, which he liked."

In capturing elements of Casemates prison and barracks in its present state, the resultant images provide an overwhelming sense of time stood still here a floral settee sitting incongruously amid debris in a room once used by Royal Naval officers; there peeling walls and woodwork seen through a series of arches which reveal the multi-hued layers of paint once used to brighten them; elsewhere the strata of weathered stone.

While some of her images are "as is", others represent the photographer's concept of reality, for which she makes no apology. Just as painters use artistic licence in their work, so should photographers have the same privilege, she reasons, stressing, however, that what she does is not manipulation.

"My colour images of the prison building and the barracks were not taken as a documentary, or meant to be a history, or a recording of the place as it is. Although some shots are straight shots depicting how it looks today, others are composite images using two or more shots of the prison.

"I took elements of reality and made them into my reality. As a visual artist that is what I do. A composite image is what exists in my mind, and that's OK. I am not trying to fool anybody.

"I am not saying an image is reality, but it was made with real elements of reality from the prison, and combined with the way I thought I would like it. Such images are noted as composites in the exhibition."

Turning to the images captured in Florence, Mrs. Airey became fascinated with the daily transformation of segregated areas of public walkways into beautiful works of art, and their erasure the next morning by mechanical street cleaners.

"Every afternoon artists take to the streets, and spend the heat of the day on their hands and knees turning unforgiving rock into masterpieces of classic art," she says. "Their heads are at foot level, but their aspirations are high.

"With palettes of chalk, they turn paving stone into brilliant manifestations of creativity and genius as passers-by toss pocket change into their shell containers. It is humble work, eating dirt and dust, but the street is transformed into something surreal just as the sunlight starts to fade."

When the artists have left, the sanctity of their creative space is then compromised by pedestrians and other traffic.

The following morning mechanical cleaners arrive to scrub and wash away the residue; by afternoon the creative process begins all over again.

Of the daily cleaning operation, Mrs. Airey says: "As the chalks begin to dissolve, a new art appears. The images are faint, abstract, and hauntingly mysterious — as if they are emerging from the very depths and soul of Florence itself.

"This unconquerable street art is the heartbeat of a city that knows craft, talent and timelessness. As the new day dawns, and fresh imagery is scratched into the streets, what came before lies beneath, yielding layers of promise for what is to come."

So fascinating were these secondary images to the photographer that she rose at 6 a.m., when the streets were empty, to capture them, and which the other half of her striking exhibition.

¦ 'Florence Street Art and The Casemates, MetalPrints by Theresa Airey' opens Friday, July 16 and continues through August 6. Admission is free. For further information telephone 292-6216.