Three years on... BYOPAPER! PHOTOGRAPH, PRINT, PASTE. NUIT DE L’ANNÉE / FRIDAY 7 JULY 2017 Papeteries Étienne – Trinquetaille
FLASHBACK… on Friday 7 July 2017 the Papeteries Étienne, an abandoned paper mill located in Trinquetaille, was brought back to life to host the fabulous NUIT DE L’ANNÉE. Both photographic promenade and late night party, this buzzing annual event takes place during the opening week of Les Rencontres d’Arles. Only one month before I had received an invitation to exhibit. What a night!
NUIT DE L’ANNÉE 2017 kicked off just before the sun set with the third edition of BYOPaper! Curated by Les Rencontres d’Arles and Fisheye magazine BRING YOUR OWN PAPER exhibited thirty photo projects, pasted, yes with wallpaper paste, on the exterior walls of the Papeteries Étienne. Selection allowed me five metres of wall space to exhibit ten 30” x 24” blue black paper prints from the series terra incognita, instructions stipulated I bring my: ‘prints, glue, brush, roller, sponge and cutter’...
A unique experience! I spent a super fun afternoon pasting up my prints in the hot southern sunshine followed by a memorable night celebrating with peers, discovering photographers and photography, screenings, and dancing and drinking of course!
Thank you for the opportunity Sam Stourdzé, Annaëlle Veyrard and Fisheye.
PRINT SALES
In acknowledgement of what would have been the opening week of Les Rencontres de la Photographie 2020, now CANCELLED, LIMITED EDITION print sales from the series terra incognita #01 to #10 will be available via #artistsupportpledge PLEASE DM TO CHECK AVAILABILITY.
30” x 24” blue black paper prints (poster) from a digital file £35 plus postage and packing
5” x 4” unique hand print on fuji crystal archive matt from original 5" x 4" reclaimed negative, edition of 1 £150 plus postage and packing
BACK STORY
A place called Lost: The distance of time, indelible impression and an amalgam of illegibilities, impasses and obscurities have tangled the real with the experiential and the imaginary. The landscape of childhood is my tangible reference - my uncharted territory is psychical.
Working with my 5x4 view camera is slow and contemplative. I identify location, position and orientation. Set up, level, attach the lens and open the shutter. A black cloth shuts out the light and more, I compose in quietude. I frame my image upside down and back to front through the ground glass and focus. I measure light, set aperture, calculate exposure time, close and cock the shutter, load the film carrier, remove the dark slide and expose using the cable release; counting aloud the seconds my shutter is open, I break the silence. I replace the dark slide and remove the film carrier. A considered process and for this project, undertaken in winter.
Production of Fuji FP100c-45 ceased in 2011, although initiatives seek to develop a ‘new’ instant 5x4, all prototypes to date have been deemed too expensive or too challenging to manufacture. Through this knowledge of obsolescence, each capture is imbued with an intensified preciousness. My processing technique facilitates a reduction of control - an unknowing, as important to the work as the land I photograph. Post-capture my instant positive exists purely for reference. Visible only in transience, it is the trace impression on the redundant backing that I reclaim. In its fragile state, wet with chemicals, immediately vulnerable, this is my negative; the scratches and scars endured overtly visible. When dry, I tape face down and remove the opaque emulsion. This negative is not fixed, there is no method for fixing therefore no guarantee of longevity. For this reason, the mark of time defines each darkroom print unique. I do not attempt graphic representation or wish for literal reading. I aim for resonance and affect.
