Image Matter
Image Matter was a collaboration with Dr. Kevin Robbie, a physicist at Queen’s University, that made use of a scanning electron microscope to image the edge-on (thickness) view of various photographic media. The resultant images were presented on a very large scale (16 inches by 7.5 feet and in some cases 16 inches x 15 feet wide) thus emphasizing the physicality of the photograph and removing all traces of the actual image content—the image content was only referred through the use of captions.
The goal of the project was to emphasize the physicality of the photograph—separating the photographic object from the photographic image—as a way to question notions of value pertaining to photographic images and to investigate how such notions have been altered by advances in digital technology and the introduction of non-physical, digital property. In addition to physical exhibition of the artworks, the project was extended through the production of an online gallery, which made the artwork freely available through a Creative Commons Non-commercial Attribution License.
from the series Image Matter (2006) - Photograph of old man with strange eyes - tintype, date unknown. Archival Inkjet Print 16 x 90 inches 2006
from the series Image Matter (2006) - Snapshot of a motorcycle cover used for a sale on eBay - chromogenic print, 2004. Archival Inkjet Print 16 x 180 inches 2006
from the series Image Matter (2006) - My Grandfather’s (Albert R. Bowles) military identity photograph - fibre-based print, circa 1939. Archival Inkjet Print 16 x 90 inches 2006
from the series Image Matter (2006) - Athènes 1842 Temple de Jupiter Olympien pris de L’Est, by Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey – daguerreotype, 1842 (As viewed on Christies Auction House website, September, 2005 - shadow mask and phosphor layers of a cathode ray tube (from a computer monitor), 2005) Archival Inkjet Print 16 x 180 inches 2006
from the series Image Matter (2006) - Photograph of two girls on a set of stairs in the middle of a field - albumin print, date unknown. Archival Inkjet Print 16 x 90 inches 2006
from the series Image Matter (2006) - Che Guevara at the funeral of the victims of the La Coubre. Colón Cemetery Havana, 1960, by Alberto Korda - postcard, ©1997. Archival Inkjet Print 16 x 180 inches 2006