Archive of Things

Lumen prints

The Archive of Things is an ongoing project documenting the world through the practice of Lumen Printing. The work in this series explores the question “what can the sun reveal about objects that humans cannot see with their eyes”? These images are lumen prints- a process where objects are placed directly on black & white paper for darkroom prints and taken out into the sun for hours at a time. The long exposure from the sun lets the sunlight penetrate any part of the object that is not completely opaque, resulting in a representation of the object that humans cannot see by just simply looking at the object. The sun, over a period of hours, travels through the object and records details within the object, revealing hidden truths about these everyday items we encounter. The sun also interacts with the emulsion on the darkroom paper, creating colors from where there was only possibility for black & white printing.  These are simple objects, with secret interiors revealed by the sun.