Research on the materiality of the photographic print
Starting with the "Old New World" and "Paradise" series in 2020, I decided to develop an experimental film-based approach for my documentary work, in order to take advantage of the materiality of film and gradually formalized an “artist-researcher” approach: the reality of the physical process (and its constraints) thus influences my choice of framing and my intentions when shooting, allowing me to reinterpret certain details I photograph.
For Paradise, in collaboration with Maison Picturale I created "resinotype" prints using a novel process created for the series (see below), presented at the BnF exhibition “Épreuves de la matière” (October 2023), PhotoSaintGermain “Lire les lignes du monde” with Cnap (November 2023) and unRepresented by approche (April 2024).
For Espace sensible, insondable mémoire (ongoing) I create "mineral prints” using rocks with Philippe Bréson, thus transforming my prints into permanent objects of memory.
For Ecotone, finalist for the BMW ArtMakers 2024 Prize, I am finalizing another unique printing process to create black and white prints by hand, exclusively with the compounds emitted by trees, plants and wood, collected on location.
For Old New World, the Michael Woolworth studio helped me create lithographic prints (photopolymer or Toyobo prints) from the Japanese paper negatives I had produced, so as to produce a print constrained by the material realities of a world brought to a standstill, overtaken by its physical realities.
Résinotypes print process (Paradise series)
Created with Maison Picturale in Paris.
Novel technique based on gelatin pigment printing with natural color pigments, pine resin and ashes collected in Paradise, California. This non-toxic process allows giving the prints the materiality of the black pinewood ashes.
unRepresented 2024unRepresented 2024 © Gregory CopitetunRepresented 2024