“The chemigram process was discovered by Pierre Cordier on November 10, 1956. It is a unique process that uses resists on photographic paper much the same way as wax is used as a resist in batik. What Cordier discovered in 1956 was that a resist can hold back the chemical effects of developer and fixer on black and white photo paper for a time. Paper put into developer that has been exposed to normal room light for varying periods of time will turn black, except where a resist blocks the chemical reaction. The parts of the paper protected by the resist will continue to change color from extended exposure to room light, of course.”
With this artist I have found that she uses nature to create her chemigrams which is something I hope to explore within my own work whether its within the series of work that I have created for this part of the project or not. The first image I have chosen to look at is called Pussy Willow 2 Gelatin Silver Chemigram 10×8″ to create this image Anderson would have had to dip the plant into the chemical of her choice and then put through the chemicals, I find that the image has given me inspiration for my own work although I feel that I can’t replicate this I feel that the colours are very representative of what I am hoping to achieve in my own works. The second image I feel that she has scratched into the paper, although as I have recently discovered she creates her chemigrams by using chemicals found around her home so this image could contain bleach etc which would explain some of the colours that are contained within the prints that I find very interesting, I hope that with further time in the darkroom I could explore the use of different chemicals to see how they react with wet paper.
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