INTERVIEW WITH ALINE SMITHSON

SHADOWS & STAINS, NOTES FROM A DARKROOM

ALINE SMITHSON

ARTIST STATEMENT

After the closure of my community darkroom, I struggled with the state of photography today--it's pursuit, the business of it, the idea of selling an image, the artist's viewpoint, the MFA school of imagery, the death of the wet darkroom, iconic photography, toy cameras and digital cameras, edition and print sizes, old rules, new challenges—all the currents photographers have to navigate in today’s photographic waters,

I was not only saddened to lose my work place, but also a decade-long community of friends and colleagues. As a darkroom printer, I have found the meditative and creative state that I experience so important to my work—it’s where I make my mark, it’s where much of the thinking about the image takes place. Losing that experience, as part of the process, is not an option I want to face.

The series, Shadows and Stains, started as a reaction to a similitude of imagery I was seeing in digital photographs. I wanted to create a body of work that deconstructed the idea of a photograph, what it captured and expressed, and the interpretation it created. Shot with a toy camera (the Diana), images were taken apart, negatives overlapped or cut, text and texture added through traditional methods in the darkroom, and washes of oil paint added to give dimension the surface. I sought to discard the idea of making the perfect print and merge my darkroom thoughts into the image. I wanted the shadows and stains of my photographic fingerprints as evidence that I was there, in a dark room.

Producing this series has helped reinvigorate my creative process. I see this as an ongoing project, resulting in exhibitions, and possibly a book.

Images are 16x20” silver gelatin prints, with hand painted washes of oil paint on the surface. Each is a unique print.

INTERVIEW WITH LANE COLLINS

ALCHEMY

LANE COLLINS

ARTIST STATEMENT

When you gaze out at the ocean from a beach in New Zealand, it feels as though you're staring at infinity. The isolated geography of this place is tangible even in the light and the position of the sun; its shores feel like a doorway to the edge of the world. The photographs in Alchemy were created within this threshold, a boundless looking glass into the mind's eye. In this work, I examine ideas of spirituality, magic and synchronicity. The resulting images make use of an esoteric symbology – informed by historical and mystical icons and blended with my own visual vocabulary – to explore the worlds we create in our minds.

BIOGRAPHY

Lane Collins (b. 1982) is a freelance photographer based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She was born and raised in Hickory, North Carolina, where she began taking pictures as a teenager. Lane went on to study photography at the San Francisco Art Institute, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2005. In late 2006, she relocated to New Zealand in search of inspiration and adventure. There she spent two years living in a small beach town and dedicated herself to making new work. Her most recent series, Alchemy, was created on the sands of Tahunanui Beach and Rabbit Island in Nelson, New Zealand.

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