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"But why not just kill the photo, there and then?”

“Because she might want to look at it again. Because it meant something to her.

Something?

A Great deal?

Everything?"

Penelope Lively, The Photograph (2003).

Below there are some examples from the anthotype series which at the moment includes 200 portraits. The sizes vary (A4, A5, A6, Square). All of them are developed on cotton Khadi paper. The documentation of this work, through the use of digital photography, and it online dissemination, result to be a compromise which negates my initial intention to remain in the sphere of the analogue. The published meta-images (photo of the photo) represent my failure to completely commit to the quality of ephemerality that the anthotype process offers to me. What fascinated me is the act of disappearing  and teh death of image. Still I don't know how to cope with this potential "loss".

Someone asked me: "Do you make all this effort for something that will not last? Why?". My response was that putting all that effort for something which won't last, maybe offers me the possibilty to learn how to let go of the preciousness related to the artwork. This is also my main challenge. I keep falling in sentimentalism, and sometimes I behave like a Gollum with its "precious". Behind this attitude hides the desire and personal need to share something that I consider relevant beyond its form; something honest that emerges from the encounter of two individuals, and therefore worthy to be accessible to others.

Images, text and other possible outputs are meant to be seen as integral part of a collective body of work. 

They are complementary fragments of a shared experience.

So, the main reasons for which I decided to digitaly document the anthotypes are:

- My desire to share this work and the outputs generated from it with the wider community, and especially with whom participated in the process. Through the act of sharing this body of work gain the opportunity to grow, expand, evolve, dissolve, be transformed, whilst blurring the boundaries of authoriship and ownership.

- Practicalities. Every image takes days, if not weeks, to be developed. The cost of paper and the limited resources of flowers make it difficult to produce more than a couple anthotype copies which  I could send to the participants - something that, anyway, is a long-term aim.

- When I look at the meta-images, I actually think that they cannot replace the real artifact which is the anthotype: the developed image on Khadi cotton paper that I have in front of me.  The texture of the paper, the subtle smell of it, the different shades of colours which will fade out a bit more every time that I open the luggage in which I preserve them. All these elements can be experienced and observed once that the you hold an anthotype in your hands. It is a unique copy, impossible to be reproduced.

 

Different conversations can start. It depends from which theoretical perspective we look at emerging questions.

However, there is also another aspect to celebrate which is that of "playing" and "making" without over-analysing.

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