My work ‚ The Alchemy of Colour‘ explores the relationship between photography and alchemy.
Alchemists constantly tried to understand nature and its immanent processes and to use the acquired knowledge to intervene in those procedures. The idea to transmute elements is part of it. That wasn‘t limited to attempting to create gold, but established the reputation as an occult science. The processes of analogue photography are similar. Something visible originates from an invisible image (the latent image) – a reflection of nature and the world. The analogies of alchemy and photography can be experienced in the photo lab. Thus, many people, who marvel at the development of an image on paper in the developing tray for the first time, describe that moment as „magical“. In both cases the use of chemicals, metals and salts starts chemical reactions, that provoke the conversion from invisible to visible and create something new. The darkroom is the core of each photo lab: a mystical space, for insiders only, who know and follow the laws and rules of the space – nothing else than a temple of a secret society.
http://www.alexandergehring.com