After being introduced to engraving photographs on pieces of plastic, I was immediately struck by the ability to make the image into a negative or a positive depending on the angle in which the photograph was placed. I began to play around with different background colors behind the material to see how the image changed. I then began to experiment with projecting light onto the plastic and was surprised to see the image be projected onto the wall as a negative when on the plastic it appeared positive. I especially enjoyed when the projection was so large that it covered the entire wall creating an image filled space. I also enjoyed when moving the light at different angles making the image more which created a dizzying and overwhelming effect.
The most challenging aspect of this project was deciding on the images I would use. After a few tests I was really drawn to the images of architecture, but what architecture would I engrave? I have always been interested in the differences between the back of town buildings versus the front especially in Northampton, MA. I find the store fronts along Main Street are very colorful and vibrant while the back of the buildings are very worn and broken down. I thought about documenting and comparing these differences, but found myself to be more interested in what I documented when exploring the side streets and alleyways. Because I felt that these projections seemed to make a dramatic space, I felt that by printing the “hidden” areas of Northampton, MA and having them be projected would somehow reveal these areas to viewers.
