Unseen/Expired

“Unseen/Expired” presents photographs as ephemera…old images rediscovered and reprocessed, exploring impermanence and the transitory nature of the photographic image itself. This is an experimental body of work that began with a collection of film slides from 1994 to 2003 that the artist made. Landscape images were randomly chosen from this collection and then reprocessed. Traditional darkroom methods were used to project and enlarge the images with a slide projector. However, the images were intentionally exposed and processed using expired photographic paper, outdated chemical developer, and no fixer. During the first moments when the negative image appeared on the fiber-based photographic paper, Ham photographed the emerging image. This digital image was transformed from negative to positive and then printed. Each of the final images in this series was created as a composite of a negative darkroom print and its small positive image. The composites were sealed with an encaustic layer adding a final personal touch and to slow the fading process.