Vessel (No. 14)
Reminiscent of William Henry Fox Talbot's earliest experiments with photography, which were cameraless images made by laying a botanical specimen on photosensitized paper; this work records scientific fact with a delicate accuracy. Derges placed her jam jar of spawn, tadpoles, and then frogs in her enlarger and printed directly through it, making an exposure any day she noted significant change or growth. The temporal frame of the work was dictated by the maturation of her subjects, who finally jumped out of the photograph and into the world.
Artwork Details
- Title: Vessel (No. 14)
- Artist: Susan Derges (British, born 1955)
- Date: 1994
- Medium: Silver dye bleach print
- Dimensions: 47.0 x 47.0 cm. (18 1/2 x 18 1/2 in.)
- Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Purchase, Stephen C. and Katherine D. Sherrill Foundation Gift, 1995
- Object Number: 1995.169.14
- Rights and Reproduction: © Susan Derges
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
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