I am interested in producing photos that are distanced from observational photography and closer to generative images. The project began in a pursuit of abstraction but has grown into semi-observational photos that force interpretation through layered and obscured forms. The resulting acid-trip-like photos exist in a space between confusion and understanding.
My work invites the viewer to pause, question, and explore what’s in the image. I want the audience to be engaged not with the exact physical details of a moment through its observation but instead the essence of a moment.
There is no better way to describe feeling and experience beyond mimetic observation than the blurring of reality into a blend of colors and shapes. I could create something transcendent out of the imminence in the traditionally descriptive experience. This induces reflection on how the viewer orients and interprets their own visual world. Through this process, the viewer may find their own emotional and personal resonance, drawing upon their memories to form a connection with the images.
My motivation behind the project comes from the process. I want to disrupt the expected process of image creation, allowing for unpredictable results. I seek to challenge conventional notions of photographic perfection and control, embracing the element of chance and imperfection as integral components of the creative process. Through film soups, a process of exposing film to a variety of ‘ingredients’ including wine, salt, lemon juice and chemicals, I embrace the experimental aspects of photographic techniques sometimes lost in the pursuit of more idealized reproductive technologies. Through digital experimentation, layering and manipulation, the unpredictable results of these processes are an expansion into a more elaborate image making, concerned with unique and beautiful results over accurate reproductions.
My work invites the viewer to pause, question, and explore what’s in the image. I want the audience to be engaged not with the exact physical details of a moment through its observation but instead the essence of a moment.
There is no better way to describe feeling and experience beyond mimetic observation than the blurring of reality into a blend of colors and shapes. I could create something transcendent out of the imminence in the traditionally descriptive experience. This induces reflection on how the viewer orients and interprets their own visual world. Through this process, the viewer may find their own emotional and personal resonance, drawing upon their memories to form a connection with the images.
My motivation behind the project comes from the process. I want to disrupt the expected process of image creation, allowing for unpredictable results. I seek to challenge conventional notions of photographic perfection and control, embracing the element of chance and imperfection as integral components of the creative process. Through film soups, a process of exposing film to a variety of ‘ingredients’ including wine, salt, lemon juice and chemicals, I embrace the experimental aspects of photographic techniques sometimes lost in the pursuit of more idealized reproductive technologies. Through digital experimentation, layering and manipulation, the unpredictable results of these processes are an expansion into a more elaborate image making, concerned with unique and beautiful results over accurate reproductions.
–Erik Smits, 2024
