• ARCHIVE
  • BOOKS
  • SELECTED TEXTS
  • BIO
  • EDITIONS
  • INTERNS
  • CONTACT
  • Inventory of works
  • HfBK
    • HFBK class list
    • Timetable
    • Bookings

Broomberg & Chanarin

  • ARCHIVE
  • BOOKS
  • SELECTED TEXTS
  • BIO
  • EDITIONS
  • INTERNS
  • CONTACT
  • Inventory of works
  • HfBK
    • HFBK class list
    • Timetable
    • Bookings
 Kodak Ektachrome 34 1978 frame 4, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012, C-41 print, 1200mm x 1200mm

Kodak Ektachrome 34 1978 frame 4, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012, C-41 print, 1200mm x 1200mm

 kodacolor-x 1968 frame 9, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012, C-41 print, 1200mm x 1200mm

kodacolor-x 1968 frame 9, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012, C-41 print, 1200mm x 1200mm

 Shirley 1, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012, 2m x 3m billboard

Shirley 1, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012, 2m x 3m billboard

 Shirley 2, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012, Billboard, 2m x 6m 

Shirley 2, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012, Billboard, 2m x 6m 

 Shirley 3, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012, Billboard, 3m x 2m

Shirley 3, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012, Billboard, 3m x 2m

 Portait with Dodger # 1, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012

Portait with Dodger # 1, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012

 Portait with Dodger # 2, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012

Portait with Dodger # 2, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012

 Portait with Dodger # 3, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012

Portait with Dodger # 3, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012

 Portait with Dodger # 4, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012

Portait with Dodger # 4, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012

 Portait with Dodger # 5, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012

Portait with Dodger # 5, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012

 Portait with Dodger # 6, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012

Portait with Dodger # 6, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012

 Portait with Dodger # 7, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012

Portait with Dodger # 7, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012

 Magic and the state #1, Installation View

Magic and the state #1, Installation View

 Magic and the state #2, Installation View

Magic and the state #2, Installation View

 Magic and the state #3, Installation View

Magic and the state #3, Installation View

 Magic and the state #4, Installation View

Magic and the state #4, Installation View

 Magic and the state #5, Installation View

Magic and the state #5, Installation View

 Magic and the state #7, Installation View

Magic and the state #7, Installation View

 Magic and the state #8, Installation View

Magic and the state #8, Installation View

 Strip Test 1, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012, Fiber-based print, 1900mm x 1100mm

Strip Test 1, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012, Fiber-based print, 1900mm x 1100mm

 Strip Test 2, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012, Fiber-based print, 1900mm x 1100mm

Strip Test 2, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012, Fiber-based print, 1900mm x 1100mm

 Strip Test 3, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012, Fiber-based print, 1900mm x 1100mm

Strip Test 3, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012, Fiber-based print, 1900mm x 1100mm

 Strip Test 4, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012, Fiber-based print, 1100mm x 1900mm

Strip Test 4, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012, Fiber-based print, 1100mm x 1900mm

 Strip Test 6, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012, Fiber-based print, 1900mm x 1100mm

Strip Test 6, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012, Fiber-based print, 1900mm x 1100mm

 Strip Test 7, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012, Fiber-based print, 1100mm x 1900mm

Strip Test 7, To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light, 2012, Fiber-based print, 1100mm x 1900mm

TO PHOTOGRAPH THE DETAILS OF A DARK HORSE IN LOW LIGHT

The title of this work derives from the coded phrase used by Kodak to describe the capabilities of a new film stock developed in the early 80's to address the inability of their earlier films to accurately render dark skin. 

Jean-Luc Godard famously refused to use Kodak film during an assignment to Mozambique in 1977, on the grounds that the film stock was inherently 'racist'. In response to a commission to 'document' Gabon, Broomberg & Chanarin recently made several trips to the country to photograph a series of rare Bwiti initiation rituals, using only Kodak film stock that had expired in the late 1950's. 

Using outdated chemical processes, the artists succeeded in salvaging just a single frame from the many colour rolls they exposed during their visits. It is presented along side an array of black and white photographic tests, whose parameters were dictated to them by a deceased family friend, an anatomist and amateur photographer, Dr. Rosenberg. 

The work centres upon a series of these partly exposed, haphazardly cropped proto-images, originally printed as test strips. The grey tones, grain and texture of black and white photographic chemistry are foregrounded in these outsized 'darkroom' experiments. 

In this wide-ranging meditation on the relationship between photography and race, the artists continue to scrutinise the photographic medium, leading viewers through a convoluted history lesson; a combination of found images, rescued artifacts and unstable new photographic works.

With special thanks to David Rosenberg and Josh Ponte.

Installation View

 

 


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