Susan Purdy maintains a practice that focuses on the reinterpretation of early photographic processes, particularly the photogram technique. Photograms involve the placement of objects directly onto light-sensitive paper. The paper is then exposed to light before being treated with photographic chemicals. This photograph is from Purdy’s series Love letters. In creating this series of photograms, the artist aimed to capture human emotions. Inner feelings and emotions are difficult to convey through photography so in this series Purdy has used glass objects as metaphors for emotional containers. In the images, Purdy alludes to emotions of love, often by pairing the objects and creating complicated relationships between them. Referencing her ancestry, Purdy used Chinese characters to sign her name at the bottom of each image.
(2018)
Gelatin silver prints are black-and-white photographic prints that have been created using papers coated with an emulsion of gelatin and light-sensitive silver salts. After the papers are briefly exposed to light (usually through a negative), a chemical developer renders the latent image as reduced silver, which is then fixed and washed. This technique was first introduced in the 1870s and is still used today. Most twentieth-century black-and-white photographs are gelatin silver prints. They are known for being highly detailed and sharply defined prints with a distinguishable smooth, even image surface.
