The series Eclipses continues my investigation of the making of the image and its relationship to surface and the physical qualities of the picture. The series also explores ways to make tangible an immaterial element, which is essential to photography and lens-based mediums: light. Through a mix of analog and digital manipulations – including experimentations in the darkroom and with the scanner, I create abstract images where the initial subject recorded on the negative becomes obstructed or near-erased by the different layers of process involved. I also physically alter the image by crumpling and creasing the paper and scanning the resulting object unflatten, allowing light leaks and reflections to leave additional marks (in addition to finger prints and dust residues) and further transform the final image. Some of the images are reassembled in Photoshop using the Layer Mask tool and transparencies.
The title, which refers to the temporary obscuring phenomenon resulting from a solar eclipse, serves as a metaphor for the obscuring and concealment of the indexical images by new layers of information – mostly abstract forms and colors – resulting from the process.
I have also produced a series of short videos by animating the still images and using similar techniques of layering, in some cases recycling and mixing previous video footage. The moving images are reminiscent of fading and disintegrating old films, pointing to the death of the analog medium but also suggesting the evanescence of the digital image.
REcomposite