photograms

Shadow Catchers: Camera-Less Photography

Martin Barnes (Merrell, 2010)

Photogram = generic term for all images made by contact of an object on photographic paper.

Developed in 19^th century and largely used for botanical illustration. Picked up in 20^th by Dadaists (Christian Schad) and Surrealists (Moholy-Nagy, Man Ray). But as photography’s documentary power came to the fore in response to events, photograms receded.  A few artists in the late 70s/early 80s began to explore the medium’s artistic potential.

Suggests this is a process-driven medium.  In terms of what they can convey:

‘With fewer certainties in our culture today than perhaps ever before, such photographs appeal to a shift towards the contingent nature of the present.  It is possible, too, that they highlight a more accountable, personal, psychological or spiritual consciousness as the imperative requirement of our times.’

Floris Neusüss

Best known for his Körperfotogramm – whole body images 1960 onwards. Emergent images, invites our imagination to complete, nude is both present and absent, elusive. Can be seen as pointing towards the model, to something visionary (angelic?), to deep psychic forces (Jung’s shadow).

Neususs has extensively explored the possibilities and implications of this medium. Photograms dematerialize. The making of them is a kind of performance.  Application of painted developer and fixer.  Folding, unfolding, exposure to light to reveal the lines. Use of ordinary domestic objects.

Makes the ordinary mysterious, the finite infinite.

Pierre Cordier

Since 1956 has been exploring the ‘chemigram’ – the painterly use of chemical (including domestic) substances on photographic paper.

Susan Derges

Uses natural objects, especially water. Looking for the hidden order contained in motion.  Spent 5 years in Japan and has been influenced by Eastern philosophy and aesthetics – economy of means, lightness of touch, minimality.

Some work in studio e.g. tank of frogspawn, some in situ e.g. River Taw series recording river throughout the seasons. Technique of submerging paper in water and exposing it to brief flash of light at night.

Natural magic series resulting from a residency at the Museum of the History of Science shows the interrelationship between the elements. ‘I wanted to visualize the idea of a threshold where one would be on the edge of two interconnected worlds: one an internal, imaginative or contemplative space and the other, an external, dynamic, magical world of nature.’  Links between physical world and psyche ‘an opportunity to bridge the divide between self and other’ ‘One is changed and in turn changes – a kind of dialogue between inside and outside unfolds.’

Garry Fabian Miller

Images of abstract shapes, circles, grids, repetition. Abstract language that retains a vestige of outside world.

Investigating properties of light and time – cyclical time through year, deep time, time in the process of creating photograms.

‘At the heart of FM’s vision is a belief in the contemplative existence of the artist, whose practice and life outside metropolitan culture are intertwined. For him, the works he creates offer a personal opportunity for reflection and emotional response, rather than social or academic readings: they are simple yet multi-layered, tranquil yet energized.’  Lincolnshire barn studio. Quaker influence.

After starting with a camera, discovered a process involving projection of an image on to dye destruction print paper (no longer available). Abandoned camera.

After beginning with plant forms, moved into abstract forms made from cut-out paper, also filled glass vessels, cast shadows – objects usually held at a distance from the paper. Technically known as ‘luminograms’.  Sometimes very long exposure times.

Draws a parallel between the making of these, the gathering of light in his studio and psychological enlightenment ‘So each day’s acts must be treasured. Each action considered as it contributes to the light accumulation, our light deposit, our forming mind…and if carefully built it can radiate goodness and beauty within the world.’

Light can be traced back to creation of world; it is an embodiment of creative energy.

Adam Fuss

Use of emblematic images to provoke emotional engagement in the viewer. So visual attraction is criterion of success of a work.

Discovered photogram method by accident when using a pinhole camera. Saw its potential for discovering unseen.  Sees camera as offering only ‘half of the visual alphabet’.

Emerging life (Invocation) and lost (Ghost series e.g. christening robes, butterflies, birds) – presence only known through its traces. A sense sometimes of being between two worlds e.g. ladders, spiral tunnels. Expression of ephemeral, life, death.

Influence of Sufism. Finding the shadow within which ‘separates us from light consciousness and a pacified soul.’ His work alerts us to the existence of this shadow and draws us towards light. ‘I have this dark space in me, and when I ask a question, that is desire for light, and perhaps the light will come.’  Exploring non-sensory insight through outward sensory vision.

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Our world is so conditioned by camera-made imagery, and these artists in by-passing that prompt us to question what we think we see and understand.  Emphasis is off focus, lighting and viewpoint. It is on shadow, transitional states, the haptic ‘less examples of physical contact than evocative traces of touch’.

Often connected with images not made by mankind (acheiropoiesis), the miraculous, like Turin shroud. Enigmatic quality.

Substances that can express something of the spirit: wax, air, light, ether, shadow, breath, cloud.

Realm of illusion – but one we can enjoy, that may contain its own truth.

Projecting inner visions through conscious manipulation of technical media. This is more possible through photograms than conventional photography (?)