chemigrams
SKIN CARE chemigrams
"How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young" - Oscar Wilde - 'The picture of Dorian Grey'
The series SKIN CARE stems from a critical reflection on the cosmetic industry and the proliferation of the selfie. These photographs, created by the traces of the body on photosensitive surface, act like the portrait of Dorian Grey: they show the imperfections that makeup and filters over selfies try to hide, skin that is alive and imperfect. An alternative representation of the body, which reclaims the self-portrait as a creative process and the tactile dimension of the photograph. Chemigrams are photographs made without a camera or a darkroom, using traditional black and white chemistry and photographic paper, contaminated in this case with a mixture of Aqua, Paraffinum Liquidum, Cera Microcristallina, Glycerin, Lanolin Alcohol(Eucerit®), Paraffin, Panthenol, Magnesium Sulfate, Decyl Oleate, Octyldodecanol, Aluminum Stearates, Citric Acid, Magnesium Stearate, Limonene, Geraniol, Hydroxycitronellal, Linalool, Citronellol, Benzyl Benzoate, Cinnamyl Alcohol and Parfum, also known as Nivea Creme. The creme applied on the skin leaves a trace on the photographic paper which alters the development process, with unpredictable consequences, like the long-term effects of the chemicals with which we poison our bodies and our environment.
The series SKIN CARE stems from a critical reflection on the cosmetic industry and the proliferation of the selfie. These photographs, created by the traces of the body on photosensitive surface, act like the portrait of Dorian Grey: they show the imperfections that makeup and filters over selfies try to hide, skin that is alive and imperfect. An alternative representation of the body, which reclaims the self-portrait as a creative process and the tactile dimension of the photograph. Chemigrams are photographs made without a camera or a darkroom, using traditional black and white chemistry and photographic paper, contaminated in this case with a mixture of Aqua, Paraffinum Liquidum, Cera Microcristallina, Glycerin, Lanolin Alcohol(Eucerit®), Paraffin, Panthenol, Magnesium Sulfate, Decyl Oleate, Octyldodecanol, Aluminum Stearates, Citric Acid, Magnesium Stearate, Limonene, Geraniol, Hydroxycitronellal, Linalool, Citronellol, Benzyl Benzoate, Cinnamyl Alcohol and Parfum, also known as Nivea Creme. The creme applied on the skin leaves a trace on the photographic paper which alters the development process, with unpredictable consequences, like the long-term effects of the chemicals with which we poison our bodies and our environment.
CHEMIPOULP 2017 chemigrams 30,5x 40,6 cm
"…. It has no bones, it has no blood, it has no flesh. It is flabby. There is nothing in it. It is a skin. One can turn its eight tentacles wrong side out, like the fingers of a glove... This is the monster which mariners call the poulp, which science calls the cephalopod, and which legend calls the kraken." - Victor Hugo - ‘The Toilers of the Sea’
Inspired by Gyotaku, the ancient Japanese art of rubbing fish to create prints, I bought frozen octopus from my local supermarkets in Switzerland and used household pollutants and homemade chemistry to print these 'contact chemigrams' on black and white photographic paper. The strangeness of the resulting images and the unpredictability of the colours echo the weirdness of finding these magnificent creatures wrapped in plastic in a freezer hundreds of miles away from the sea, and the uncontrollable effects that our actions might have on the oceans and beyond.
Inspired by Gyotaku, the ancient Japanese art of rubbing fish to create prints, I bought frozen octopus from my local supermarkets in Switzerland and used household pollutants and homemade chemistry to print these 'contact chemigrams' on black and white photographic paper. The strangeness of the resulting images and the unpredictability of the colours echo the weirdness of finding these magnificent creatures wrapped in plastic in a freezer hundreds of miles away from the sea, and the uncontrollable effects that our actions might have on the oceans and beyond.
