Surface Tone is a group show we have curated with works from members of our community. The show features a variety of images made in the darkroom using experimental and alternative processes, where the photographic surface is a site of experimentation and play.
Tom Malek
I have been scratching marks into the negatives from my photographic archive for over a decade. The act of marking these images is an attempt to connect the variety of mediums and ideas explored within my practice - the jagged interrupted lines attempting to unify a messy array of concepts. The flaws of memory, the inherent destruction in creation, the worlds created by the collaging of photography and drawing, and the new stories possible with these processes are a few ideas present. The resolution of these ideas is not my final goal - the sharing of these ideas to the viewer is where I hope to learn more about their combination.
This presentation involves the reproduction of the damaged negatives as positive film, which will be presented as a series of slides by projector.
Emma Depares
Golden Wattle (Acacia Pycnantha) (Test Strip I)
This test strip, Golden Wattle (Acacia Pycnantha) marks the first trial of developing with an eucalyptus bark extract. Printed using a digital negative of a golden wattle, on Ilford multigrade black and white paper and developed in bark extract from the same location. Located in the Cumberland Shale Woodland on Dharug land, each layer exposed to more light reveals the different tones hidden amongst the landscape. The strip functions as both experiment and image, recording an exchange between plant and process where the alternative developer leaves a chemical imprint of place and memory.
Where the Wattle Waits (Print I)
Where the Wattle Waits. The first print uses a eucalyptus bark developer on Ilford black and white multigrade silver gelatin paper. Using a digital negative of golden wattle, the image emerges through uneven exposure and plant-based chemistry. Australian Natives are used as both subject and photographic developer, leaving a material trace of place, time, and process amongst the surface.