Statement: In ‘Purified by fire’ the subject is literally buried beneath, absorbed within, emergent in, the fecund plant life, so that all we can see are the eyes holding the sun and the horizon. In this image human and vegetal merge in a representation of the genius loci. The image recalls the fruit and vegetable portraits of the 16th-century Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo, such as his portrait of the Roman god, Vertumnus, the god of seasons, plant growth and change. The plant life in Thompson’s image is sexual, ripe, and his title is a reminder that fire brings about new growth.
– Excerpt from Tracey Warr’s essay, Gazing at Future Horizons, London 2017
www.christianthompson.net
Chromogenic prints are printed on paper that has at least three emulsion layers containing invisible dyes and silver salts. Each emulsion layer is sensitive to a different primary colour of light (red, green or blue). The development process converts the hidden dyes to visible colour depending on the amount of light it was exposed to. This type of paper is commonly used to print from colour negatives or digital files to produce a full-colour image. It can also be used to print black-and-white images, giving softer grain and less contrast than gelatin silver prints. Commonly known as c-type prints, chromogenic processing was developed in the 1940s and widely used for colour printing, including for domestic snapshots. While recent years have seen this process accompanied by ink-jet and digital printing technologies, chromogenic printing still remains in use to this day.
