Portraits of  Photographic Chemicals series

Silver Mirroring gelatin prints, 20x24 inch
2024 ongoing project

The imagery in my Silver Mirroring prints is formed by the patterns of crystallized photographic chemicals. I leave photographic chemical solutions on glass plates, where crystals form as the solutions degrade and the water evaporates. I place the plates in enlargers and print the crystal patterns onto B&W photographic paper. Developer, fixative, bleach, and other chemicals, are rarely acknowledged as subjects of photography, but here they are the main characters.

 

Silver Mirroring Toning is a craft-based analogue photographic technique that I developed to intentionally activate and accelerate the process of silver mirroring, which is commonly understood as a form of photographic chemical degradation caused by long-term improper storage. The process triggers the silver hidden in the photographic materials to migrate to the surface, forming a thin layer of elemental silver that scatters light, and makes the silver itself highly visible. 

 

Silver is the fundamental material of analogue photography, but it is often behind the scenes. This technique lifts the silver onto the stage as a visible subject, while transforming degradation into an iridescent effect, an aesthetic possibility, and a conceptual resource. The transformation challenges the traditional ideas about the relationship between permanence and degradation in artworks. It raises broader questions on permanence, care, and deterioration within photographic objects. 

 

The motifs combine Silver Mirroring Toning, presenting the essential elements that make analogue photographic images possible. I seek to reconsider the materiality of photography and reposition the narrative: photography is not only a functional tool for producing images, but also a subject on its own. In this way, process and materials are inseparable from meaning. Photography speaks through its own materials.

 

 

Silver in the Fire series
To view click here.

​

Silver Mirroring Hanging Installation

To view click here.