Fragile Flowers- Post 2

Following on from my previous post which talked about my second set of images, I began to look at two processes which are almost exclusive to these kinds of peel-apart film types.

The first of these processes is the image transfer. This is a technique wherein the negative side of the polaroid image, which is usually discarded, is placed firmly onto a receptive surface, such as wood, paper or card. The back of the images is then rubbed evenly before peeling away from the surface after thirty seconds to a minute later.

I experimented with this technique using a variety of materials, with varying degrees of success. I found those that gave the best results were absorbent materials, such as kitchen-roll, napkins and cotton fabrics. Less absorbent materials such as canvas-board and waxed-paper gave very poor results in comparison, often leaving a less distinguished image with large areas missing. The two images below show the varying degrees of success- on the left an image transferred onto a cotton tablecloth and on the right a different image transferred onto the back of a piece of sandpaper.

With all polaroid photographs each image is unique and with the image transfer this is still true, the image cannot be exactly repeated, however, once transferred, though the image loses some quality it gains another attribute. Often the colours change slightly, or on occasion, quite drastically, as well as gaining a third feature by looking at the material is is printed onto. For example, an image of a man lying in the crucifix-position transferred onto a piece of muslin or hessian (linking to the shroud of Turin) would hold quite different connotations to the same image printed onto a page of a handwritten diary.

This was an idea which was voiced during my presentation to the rest of the group, specifically with the image below. Printed onto a piece of kitchen roll, the colours of the original image become almost inverted and the patternation from the material creates a circle of white dots, similar to crop circles or aboriginal art. The object then transcends merely being a photograph or an image transfer but takes on a third meaning, becoming a kind of folk-artifact.