A Parallel Planets piece by Unknown
Parallel Planets presents November Nocturne
Photographic Rorschach
Traditional Photography by Nicole Lane
Mentioned: no sunshine, psychological abstraction, and peering inside
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Mentioned: no sunshine, psychological abstraction, and peering inside
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After working in the darkroom for 8+ hours, one can begin to become a bit flustered, slightly uneasy and beyond exhausted. Among the stench of chemicals, achy feet and lack of Vitamin D, sits piles and piles of test strips.
When one is in a darkroom, the artist must focus in on an area in the negative that has a tonal range with which one can test out and expose to light in order to gain insight for the correct exposure time (the light can hit the paper at 3 seconds and create an image or a 90 seconds...depends on the quality of your negative). By tearing or cutting strips of photographic paper, one lays the test strip under the enlarger and exposes it to the light. After some time, the correct exposure will be discovered by testing and dealing with trial and error. After completing this action for a few years, I began to see beautiful abstractions in my test strips. There were complete sections of the image that were enlarged and removed from the remainder of the greater picture. By magnifying a selected area of the negative, I was able to pick and choose what my viewers were able to engage in. Pushing this idea, I also began to paint onto my photographic paper rather than fully submerging the paper into the chemicals which allowed me to virtually create paintings with light and developer. Exposing selected areas in the negative and developing precise areas on the paper enhanced my photographic process overall. While taking photographs, I began to look at the details more closely and started to question how important a negative really is at all.
My photographs began to take on a "Rorschach" approach as shapes, shadows, and details created a peculiar and offbeat image within a larger one. I became my own psychological patient, the evaluation was my own art. Certain areas in the negative drew me in while others lacked interest and excitement. The awareness that I discovered within my own photographs was something that I had not explored or experienced before in my dingy, black, darkroom. Each print is printed on 5x7 photographic postcard paper with the exception of one which is printed on a narrow strip of paper.
About the Author: Currently residing in Chicago, Nicole Lane is a pop singing, horror reading, ex-painter who finds solace in the depths of the darkroom as well as other disciplines. Her work involves issues relating to identity and the loss of it through various processes and techniques. Sometimes, she makes books. She believes in rising early, drinking sweet tea, solitude and laughing, always. Nicole is a recent graduate from Guilford College where she received her BA in photography. For the future, she plans on making things and collaborating with other artists as much as possible. Nicole is interested in exploring two separate realms that seem to somehow coexist. Presence and absence, reality and surrealism; these are important aspects in her work. The process of identity in relation to these tensions is something that is displayed through abstraction, alternative processes and an overall sense of the otherworldly. Important influences for Nicole are spirit photography, Hans Bellmer, found objects, and early childhood fantasies.
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Editor's Note:This feature is a part of our "black" theme, November Nocturne. To share your work on Parallel Planets, click here to know what we're currently looking for. You may also read more from Nicole Lane.
