Destroying a Photograph
For my idea I knew that my photos had shown signs of damage so I wanted to try different things to see what would be the most successful outcome. I knew that I wanted to experiment with household items since I was very limited with resources.
I found random households that I wanted to try experiment with in hopes that one of them will give me interesting results. I planned to use: - Bleach - Disinfectant - Nail Polish Remover - Metal Polish/Tarnish Remover - Insect Killer - Washing Up Liquid I was very optimistic about some of these items but I wasn't too sure what all of them would do. So I was anticipating the results. |
Experiments
The materials I used didn't seem to have much effect on my photographs. Although these materials had dangerous chemicals in them some of them had no reaction to the photo.
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The bleach was already going to show me corrosive results so I was exciting to see what it done to the image. After leaving it for about 20 minutes I found that the bleach had erased the top layer of the photo and left a green hue. I knew that I would definitely use the bleach method again but I will probably use water as well so that I can dilute the bleach a bit.
As for the other materials, there was zero to none corrosion or damage to the photos. I believe that these other materials are a concentrated mix of ingredients which don't have the raw chemicals that bleach possesses.
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Bleach + Photo
As I was familiar with the bleach technique, I wanted to see how it would look with my photographs overall. I tried various methods for bleaching the photos to see what effects I could get. I started out by pouring small amounts of bleach onto my photos then dipping them into water after 30 seconds. This gave me an almost amber like colour around my photo. I liked how it worked but it didn't excite me enough. I then tried putting my photo in a bleach and water solution where I would submerge it and add more bleach throughout the process. This gave me better results as the bleach then created a more flowing or even fiery effect to the photo. Rinsing the photo immediately afterwards helped to achieve this look too.
I also tried experimenting with other tools such as a paintbrush and clingfilm. I wanted to try and create a marbled looked using the bleach, this had some effect but it wasn't entirely great. The bleach obviously doesn't dry so the clingfilm didn't have much to stick to in order to create the marble effect. As for the paint brush it was a fairly easy method, however it took several strokes of bleach to get a single brush stroke to appear. It was more time consuming to do this technique rather than the dipping process.
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Hairspray + Fire + Photo
Once a photo was completely burned it left this hard crystalized surface, which almost look withered an old. It gave it this old and rustic appearance which is what I wanted it to have.
I realised early on that the layers or hairspray you burn, the more the crystals will change. The layers after a few burns would begin to bubble and burn the photo altogether, this was fascinating to see as the hairspray and the photograph were unpredictable once it was set alight. As I did more of the hairspray technique I wanted to think of more ways to destroy the photos and then soon came to the idea of combining bleach and hairspray. |
Bleach + Hairspray + Photo
For the bleach and hairspray technique I began by burning the photo first as I was concerned as to how the bleach would react to fire. Burning it first allowed me to have more control if something was to happen. I made sure to put on a heavy amount of hairspray as I wanted to only burn it once so I didn't need to go back and burn another layer.
The bleach and hairspray reacted very well together, it seemed that bleach was corroding the crystalized surface and giving the photo a somewhat ghostly appearance. I really liked how this method turned out and it allowed me to pick between all my techniques so that I could work on my photos even more.
Health and Safety
Working with this chemical I needed to make sure that I was be careful at all times and protecting myself. I made sure to:
- Work in a well ventilated area (my back garden)
- Wearing gloves when using bleach
- Wearing old clothes so that bleach doesn't stain them
- Using a mask so I don't breath in harsh chemicals
- Having water near by in order to control the fire