C H R I S T I N E E L F M A N   |   Objects Apparitions

In her recent series, Objects Apparitions, Christine Elfman explores the temporal wane of objects, images, and memory. Color slips from the surface of paper, subjects become shadows, and recognition fades. Applying the anthotype process, which was first developed in 1842, Elfman’s photographic images are made using paper coated with a photosensitive plant extract (specifically dahlia, daisy, elderberry, and lily dyes). Elfman’s images develop slowly: sitting outside for a month, the sun bleaches paper saturated with the plant dyes. The temporality of the photographs is the crux of her practice, as Elfman states “the fugitive anthotypes are not just about fading. They are images made of fading. Fading is the subject, medium, and fate of the photograph.”