The first iteration of OO Guide to Sobriety (PROJECT 7) was completed in early 2020 with plans for an exhibition later that year. Two years later, Rakish Light revisited the original sites, adapting the same camera to capture video of the double image projected inside the box. The images, now moving, were surreal in the eerie way much of the immediate post-pandemic felt—(post-)apocalyptic yet distant. We paired this video with a soundtrack of singing bowls and voices recorded in an abandoned train tunnel .
The images, now moving, were surreal in the eerie way much of the immediate post-pandemic felt—(post-)apocalyptic yet distant. We paired this video with a soundtrack of singing bowls and voices recorded in an abandoned train tunnel.
Exhibited at the Suburban in Milwaukee in 2022 this new video was combined with original volume and black and white contact prints of the oringal lithographic film negatives on fiber paper.
Which also recounts what will soon be seen, 2017–18, printed 2020
Black-and-white photographs on fiber paper
Artists’ book (offset lithographic prints handbound with linen thread and wood)
OO Guide to Sobriety, 2019 (PROJECT 7)
In 2018 Rakish Light built a box camera for 11×14 black-and-white lithographic negative film. The camera has two lenses of different focal lengths that capture side by side round images. Travelling to 12 locations in the American West Rakish Light repeated the same routine: drive, stop, take an exposure, drive on. Evenings were spent developing the day’s negatives in motel bathrooms turned darkrooms.
To collaborate as a couple, we built a box camera with two lenses, of different focal lengths. These lens are located side by side on the front of the box, and the back is fitted with a removeable panel for the insertion of 11 x 14 inch negative lithography film. There is no viewfinder; a piece of dark velvet placed over the lenses serves as a shutter, to be removed for the several seconds, approximately, required for an exposure. We travelled with our camera to 12 locations in the American West (Yosemite; Joshua Tree; Grand Canyon; MacArthur Park; Sequoia/Kings Canyon; San Joaquin Valley; Zuma Beach; Death Valley; Mono Lake; Mammoth Lakes; Bristlecone Forrest; Vagabond Inn, Ventura) , every day repeating the same routine: drive, stop, place the camera in the direction of a scenic shot, take the exposure, drive on; and in the evening: find a motel room, set up photochemistry in the bathroom, black out the room, develop the day’s negatives. The images that resulted show two round views side by side.
Unique hand-bound book with wood covers and color offset lithographic interior sheets, 10 3/4 x 16 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches
Edition of 50 hand-bound books with Duralar covers and 49 color offet lithographs, 16 1/2 x 10 5/8