LINDA HEISS - EXPOSURE INTERNATIONAL OPEN CALL

The photograph 7 Series #17 is part of a series that explores and recontextualizes the normally imperceptible dots and grid-structure of the image reproduction technologies, halftone printing and inkjet printing.

The photographs in the series were created by means of a mix of digital and analog processes, including rephotography, digital image manipulation (with self-imposed constraints), inkjet printing, and the arranging of subject matter characteristic of still life photography.

The starting point for the project was the rephotographing of a published halftone image. Digital tools were used to access the ink droplets, to investigate their form through contrast adjustments, and to add color. The new digital images were then materialized as inkjet prints on acetate and the final compositions were constructed using a manual process of layering.

The material component of the process is evidenced in the cloth-like texture visible in the pictures. The texture is caused by the slight misalignment of the grids in the acetate inkjet prints and its character is determined by the physical condition of the prints and the number of prints used.

BIOGRAPHY

New York-based photographer Linda Heiss creates abstract digital photographs of highly manipulated subject matter. The abstract quality of the work derives in part from the properties of the subjects -- the things photographed are non-functional, non-symbolic, and unfamiliar -- and in part from the abstracting mechanisms of the camera.

A series typically begins with an investigation of a semi-raw manufactured malleable material and proceeds to the development of a method for giving it form, most recently by means of processes that crudely mimic processes of growth. The photographs that follow are straight-forward, simple, and precise, often suggestive of anatomical or cellular structures, yet difficult to align with the natural world.

Heiss's photographs have been exhibited in juried group shows in Brooklyn, Poughkeepsie, and Albuquerque and were on the short list for the Royal Photographic Society's annual international exhibition in 2018.