Joly Dots and Don'ts, Alan Phelan

Alan Phelan has been working with the Joly screen process since 2018, one of the first stable colour photography methods that was invented by Trinity College Dublin physics professor John Joly in the 1880s. The ‘additive’ or ‘separate’ process uses a red, green, and blue striped screen to filter light on exposure and display to make colour from light not chemistry. 

The content of the images is broad as Phelan wants to create a visual history for the process that it never had a chance to have as it was abandoned early on.

This selection draws on several projects — flower photographs that reference floral paintings and arrangements over five centuries; self-portraits that connect to queer photography history in performing identities; and ‘dot’ photographs which exploit the layered process, leaving dot gaps in the stripes and adding visual complexity with coloured paper and re-photographed found images.

alanphelan.com

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Published by PhotoIreland
Edition of 200
Softcover
32 pages
148 x 210 mm