“I never want to see another picture of ________.” Industry veterans share their pet peeves on themes in contemporary photography. In this series they present their “rule” along with five photographs that break the rule in an effort to show that great work is the exception to the rule.
Rule Setter: Andrew Fedynak, Owner and Publisher, Zatara Press
Rule Breaker: Moira McDonald
I never want to see another cameraless process-driven picture. Artists are always experimenting with photography. Many are finding ways to move away from the constraints of the camera. Some attempt to add additional layers of process to their imagery in order to add “seriousness and complexity.” There are far too many chemigrams, lumen prints, and other experimental photographic processes made without specific intent and reason. These abstractions have become commonplace and I wonder, does the linear matter anymore? For Moira McDonald, her series Pacifica contains beautifully abstracted forms of energy, emotion, and landscape that allow a viewer to create ideas through their imagination as they interact with each picture.
McDonald writes, “I placed my darkroom trays out overnight to collect small puddles of the clouds to dip my silver papers in. They were then exposed on an overcast day until the fog was either absorbed by the paper or evaporated back into the atmosphere.” What spirits entered these papers as they were laid out to rest at night? Some cameraless process work becomes solely about the randomness of the process. McDonald intentionally uses this randomness to show the transcendental nature of the environment, creating a unique impression upon the paper.
The fog is a key component of Pacifica’s geographical region, and that fluid movement seems to shift in and out of each piece. In some cases, she assembles many sheets of paper to make a single print, reminding me of a stitched NASA landscape of a different planet. As the pictures shift from darkness to light and lightness back to dark, in a grey/sepia tone, they seem to invoke a painterly movement as if created by Mother Nature herself. Water and air and key components of the chemical photographic process as they are in all humankind. Stare into one of the pictures for an extended period of time and they reveal internal layers unique to each viewer, almost like a Japanese watercolor. For me, rolling hills appear, as well as windows with rain drops, sand dunes, and lakes. Yet at its core, this project is also a record of the physical location of Pacifica. Therein lies the power of an abstract cameraless picture to allow the viewer to create, travel, and dream all within the same space.
—Andrew Fedynak