Corroded Slides- ‘Resurrection’ 2021
This is a study, a study of corroded photographic film slides. In February 2021 I inherited thousands of slides and I created an archive called The Unknown Photographer. Amongst the archive are these beautiful decayed slides. Apparently affected by the storage conditions, perhaps the slides were stored in a damp/ warm space for a long period of time. When looking through them I noticed some of the slides had serious condition issues. Intrigued by the mystery I needed to see what these vanishing images looked like. These photos were meant to show life, the “mortal moment” and that is slowly being taken away by time. The darkness is setting in on the life “we” once knew. Each image is in a different stage of deterioration. It was fascinating to see how the image was just simply vanishing in the dramatic kind of way. Liminal in their existence, mysterious in their imagery. I feel as though I have resurrected what was left to fade away. A graveyard of misfits coming back with one last message. Although the photos aren’t perfect in their current state, they are absolutely beautiful in their reemergence. A dark mood sets in and we can’t help but feel smothered. I really get this feeling of temporal life and how we are only here on this earth for a little time. The people who took these photos intended on them to be seen again, to save to cherish, but instead they were given away to stranger and left for dead. They focus on our perception of nostalgia, memory and family . I think they make for such a beautiful abstract mystery.
My Findings- I noticed a bunch of slides had brown looking scratches on the the surface. After looking at the scanned images, I realized that it was perhaps the first stages of decomposition. It seems as though I was able to find images that represent the different stages of the decaying process. The images are slowly vanishing into the dark abyss. The beautiful abstract organic patterns that are created during decomposition are fascinating.
