Post-internet plague doctor2021
Artist statement: This photograph is part of a series titled Post-internet apocalypse, and is the result of a series of performative stagings which see fanciful figures, clad in the refuse of a hypothetical future. A hyperbolic representation of the contemporary human experience and what it could become, given its trajectory. The series asks the viewer to imagine a post-internet world, occupied by characters born of the dregs of the 21st century, sporting plastic, two-dollar bought nostalgia for a time characterised by new technologies, pandemics and social media. The portraits reference historical architypes such as, in this case, the plague doctor. Plague doctors are traditionally adorned in glass lensed masks with beaked noses often containing dried roses to aid with the stench.
harrymcalpine.com
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.
