Lit, 2020
Series of 6 silver gelatin darkroom prints, 42” x 30”
By focusing on what is usually outside the frame, Lit references the highly constructed and controllable nature of an artistic practice. This series is an exploration of my longstanding preoccupation with the imposition of order through the exertion of control. I prefer darkroom photography and having control of the development process as well as the image itself. I am most comfortable in an environment where things are “testable” and have the potential to achieve perfection through exacting measurements. By choosing to print these images at an unusually large size, I tested the limits of my ability to control the variables of the darkroom process. The process of making these prints, themselves objects, became a significant part of this project. I was required to construct and repurpose equipment to create these outsized prints with the degree of control over the tonal quality and texture I wanted to achieve.
Lit attempts to animate the studio equipment by focusing on the relationship among the objects in the frame. My objective was to control both the image and the impact it has on the viewer. No longer fixtures, the cloaked light held together by a delicate piece of tape suggests a gowned woman; a torn sheet of paper suggests something broken; two lights face away from the camera, the plastic sheet referencing a desire for privacy.
I have gone from appreciating the control involved in the photographic process to making the process of control the actual subject of my work.