Photographs without camera

 

 

Combination of two ancient photographic techniques: the cyanotype (1842) and the photogram (1922).

 

The cyanotype is one of the oldest non-silver monochrome processes by means of which a Prussian blue photographic print is obtained. The surface is sensitized with a solution based on the sensitivity of iron salts (ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide) and then dried in the dark. The print is then made by contact with the negative matrix. The time of exposure to natural light produces a change in the composition of the iron salts.  The paper is then rinsed with water to dissolve the unexposed iron salts and dried. It is during this drying process that the blue pigment is formed. 

 

The photogram, a luminous creation, is the real key to photography: it allows us to receive the luminous reactions on a sensitive sheet of paper, without the help of any device, and opens up perspectives of a morphism hitherto absolutely unknown - governed by laws that will be particular to it -.

 

Positive photographic proofs obtained without the use of a lens by placing an object in front of or directly on photosensitive surfaces, these camera-free images offer the formidable faculty of lending themselves to or evoking metaphorical, psychological or spiritual readings, and restore a life-size image of the object that obscures the light of the photosensitive surface. Thus the resulting silhouette is an imprint, a direct representation of the contact and presence of the object.

 

These photogenic drawings propose here a visual and philosophical questioning that is in line with the duration, removing the use of the camera as a means of returning to the fundamentals of photography: light and time.