I have been using alternative print processes since 2015, making an ever-growing collection of Gum Bichromate Portraits, and exploring the fleeting relationship between the sitter and the viewer. My work became about looking through a series of layers, using the trace elements of the process to stare beyond and into the eyes of the portrait; incorporating and exploiting the maker’s marks. So much of our understanding of the world relies upon layers of memories; we build up a remembered sensory picture unique to us which informs our present. Coincidentally, the process of gum bichromate itself relies upon layering. Starting with a contact negative, the print is made by overlaying a series of repeat prints, again and again, until the desired richness, density and colour tones are achieved.
