DARKROOM ALCHEMY: PHOTOGRAMS
with Aspen Mays
What is a cameraless image and what are its possibilities? In this workshop, we will explore the history and creation of photograms in the darkroom using materials on hand and our own bodies. What can the most basic of conditions– light sensitivity and time– teach us about photography and playful ways of seeing and making? No previous darkroom experience is necessary. Silver gelatin papers will be provided as well as darkroom chemistry.
Materials will be provided for experimentation but participants are invited to bring materials they'd like to experiment with for photograms; objects of varying opacity and density work well. These objects or materials can hold personal significance or can be items of more formal curiosity.
This workshop is limited to 10 participants.
Aspen Mays was raised in Charleston, SC. She received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA in Anthropology and Spanish from The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She is currently an Associate Professor and Chair of Photography at the California College of the Arts. She is represented by Higher Pictures in New York, and recent honors include a 2021 Purchase Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Mays was also a Fulbright Scholar in Santiago, Chile, where she spent time with astrophysicists using the world’s most advanced telescopes to look at the sky, an experience that has made a lasting impact on her work.