I’m delighted to announce the publication of Returning to the Unimagined, a book of my lumen prints from the series of the same name.
A bequest of silver gelatin paper and an almost chance email conversation about lumen prints inspired me to use this unusual cameraless photographic technique to find my way through a time of loss and betrayal.
Lumen printing is an alternative photographic process with roots in the 19th century, at the dawn of modern photography. The artist typically places objects on a sheet of unexposed black and white silver gelatin photographic paper and exposes it to sunlight. When exposed to sunlight, black and white paper produces a startling range of colors, depending on factors such as the type and age of the paper, length time in the sun, moisture, and probably other things, including alchemy. Each lumen print is unique, and the results from the process are unpredictable.
Hélène Barrette and I collaborated to expand this historical technique to impart additional magical qualities to the work. That collaboration resulted in the book Playing With Light | Jeu de Lumière.
As I made the lumen prints in Returning to the Unimagined, both human connection and final image were dimly glimpsed ahead of time, with their form, their full possibilities, and at times, even their very existence unimagined. The visual themes that emerged seemed to shift as my internal processes did, ultimately revealing new intensities of inner experience. The photograms are presented in the chronological order in which I made them, reflecting the messy, but very real, sequence in which my internal process unfolded.
The 69 mysterious, surreal botanical images, often verging on abstraction, suggest plants from a dream garden. They invite reverie and offer the possibility of finding resonance with your own stories.
There are currently four ways to get your copy.
I have a limited number of copies available at $42 plus tax and shipping. Please contact me for more information.
Copies will be available, in connection with the exhibition The Spectrum of Intention & The Art of Lumen Printing, at the Oakland Photo Workshop, 312 8th Street, Oakland, CA 94607 starting on Friday, July 12. (Watch this space for news about the exhibition!)
Copies will be available at Underdog Film Lab, 1624 Peralta Street, Oakland, CA 94607 after Saturday, June 29.
You can order the book from Blurb.