CHLOROPHILL
PRINTS
This is a follow-up of the documentary photography project The workers of the Sun, whose images were printed through an alternative technique of anthotype called chlorophyll process. Developed by the artist and photographer Binh Danh, this technique was chosen due to its bound with the sun – the same element appropriated in the photographic narrative about the naval laborers in their working hours and intrinsic to the project's creative process.
The experiment of this organic method was made with the purpose to produce meaning between the images theme, the printing process and the leaf's materiality. Different from the experience provided by the pixels of a digital image or by the presumed neutrality of the photographic paper's white surface, the leaf is a canvas that possesses its own graphical dynamic. Therefore, the outlines shaped by the stem and the veins were considered in the pursuit for visual balance and each image was carefully engaged to establish a dialogue with the leaf natural composition, in order to create a harmonious printing. However, the premise of creating meaning is not only related to the aesthetic issue, but also to the intimate connection between the workers reality and the way the images are printed. Coined « chlorophyll prints » by the artist, the images transfer onto the surface living leaves is achieved by exploiting the natural process of photosynthesis. The leaf is pressed with a positive between two glass plates and then exposed to the sun. Along the process, the leaf’s body endure the same conditions that the worker’s body endure in the construction site. It feels the same excessive heat caused by the direct exposure to the sun and the physical properties of the material that surrounds it. Under these conditions, the worker and the leaf sweat together, then turn into one under the same sun. But they are not destined to last. The displacement caused by the job search is not a singularity faced only by laborers from the naval industry, but it's part of a reality defined by the capitalist mode of production that they are conditioned to and reinforced by social inequality. Compelled to move around the country where there is a demand for labor, they are also coerced to accept the industry’s work conditions. Their employability not only depend on the life of the project, but also on its stage. Thus, the same state of impermanence that the workers are subject to is found in the organic matter where the images were printed. Just as the transience lived by them, these photographs are also faded to the ephemeral cycle of life of the leaves.
The experiment of this organic method was made with the purpose to produce meaning between the images theme, the printing process and the leaf's materiality. Different from the experience provided by the pixels of a digital image or by the presumed neutrality of the photographic paper's white surface, the leaf is a canvas that possesses its own graphical dynamic. Therefore, the outlines shaped by the stem and the veins were considered in the pursuit for visual balance and each image was carefully engaged to establish a dialogue with the leaf natural composition, in order to create a harmonious printing. However, the premise of creating meaning is not only related to the aesthetic issue, but also to the intimate connection between the workers reality and the way the images are printed. Coined « chlorophyll prints » by the artist, the images transfer onto the surface living leaves is achieved by exploiting the natural process of photosynthesis. The leaf is pressed with a positive between two glass plates and then exposed to the sun. Along the process, the leaf’s body endure the same conditions that the worker’s body endure in the construction site. It feels the same excessive heat caused by the direct exposure to the sun and the physical properties of the material that surrounds it. Under these conditions, the worker and the leaf sweat together, then turn into one under the same sun. But they are not destined to last. The displacement caused by the job search is not a singularity faced only by laborers from the naval industry, but it's part of a reality defined by the capitalist mode of production that they are conditioned to and reinforced by social inequality. Compelled to move around the country where there is a demand for labor, they are also coerced to accept the industry’s work conditions. Their employability not only depend on the life of the project, but also on its stage. Thus, the same state of impermanence that the workers are subject to is found in the organic matter where the images were printed. Just as the transience lived by them, these photographs are also faded to the ephemeral cycle of life of the leaves.
