La chambre bleue
F&D Cartier
In an era in which artificial and sensationalist photographic content is proliferating, F&D Cartier continue to put at the center of their practice the fundamental elements of analogue photography: light and a photosensitive surface. Their site-specific installation has been created using vintage silver photo paper dating from the 1880s to 1990. The sheets are placed on the walls of the exhibition space in a precise arrangement: when they are exposed to the ambient light, the silver compounds undergo a chemical reaction, and the white surfaces of the photo paper gradually darken into monochrome variations according to the particular formulas used by their manufacturers.
In this conceptual work highlighting the slow and gradual transformation of photosensitive paper as it is exposed to light, F&D Cartier approach photography as a medium that exists as both matter and process, and bring us back to the very etymology of the word “photography” – literally, “writing with light.”
Year of production: 2024
