PPE portraits luminosity, colour, black and white2022
Artist statement: This series of digital photograms of personal protective equipment (PPE) worn by Victorian frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic commemorates those who put their own lives, health and that of their families on the line for their communities. The height of this battle taking place behind closed doors against an invisible common enemy of humankind. Their armour thin, light and delicate but equally hot, suffocating and uncomfortable for long periods of time. PPE provides protection from infectious particles but not from the varying psycho-emotional states suffered over time from adrenaline, trauma and burnout. Its diaphanousness with light allows a photographic inverse seen with the darkroom technique of creating photograms. Using a digital process here also allows an inverse of colour and luminosity while maintaining a likeness to medical imaging.
www.sarahcusack.com
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.
