The Chase
The Chase is a series of experimental collages and prints that both reveal and celebrate the darkroom process. The title plays on the relationship between the ceramic creatures featured in the work and, more importantly for me, suggests an association between the light projected through the negative and the resulting alchemy that occurs as it falls upon the photographic emulsion when printing. I have taken the test strip, primarily used as means of assessing the colour and tonal balance of a print and incorporated it into the image. The positioning and exposure details of each strip are unique, so each piece becomes an expression of the subtle variations in production. This leads to endless possibilities within the editioning process, and by treating the paper as a canvas, allows me to abstract the image and explore the purely aesthetic use of colour, tone, exposure and form.