Dark Spots/Light Thoughts
2015 - 2016
Photographic collage, cyanotype tinted with tannic acid
Dark Spots/Light Thoughts expresses an idea of spiritual transformation in two sequences created in consecutive years. The first one interprets a downfall in blackish cyanotypes tinted with tannic acid and the second interprets an ascension in the original heavenly blue colour of the cyanotype process.
The prints are created by collaging huge photographic negatives depicting two sea shells. The pictures are taken in an objective manner and with an enhanced subjectivity, in a distorting mirror, bringing some surreal curves to the shape. The sea shell, a symbol of birth and life in history of art, is interpreted in figural compositions. In the first sequence the apocalyptic drama is set by various compositions of negatives, such as a study of illusionary symmetry in the “Pre-heraldic” series and of expanding chaos in the “Debris” series. The “Exodus” large-scale print inverts the symbolic meaning of the sea shell. The sharp shapes and the dark tonal range emphasize the apocalyptic motive, which takes over the traditional iconography.
In the second sequence the spiritual salvation is expressed in a harmonic, hierarchical organization of size and shape. The compositions interpret the shape of wings in a clear visual reference to the idea of an uplifting spiritual transformation.