Artist's Statement

Millee Tibbs

MOUNT ANALOGUE - Silver Gelatin Prints, 20 x 24 inches

"Mount Analogue" investigates the paradoxical relationship between photography and the sublime using a singular and ubiquitous natural phenomenon – the mountain. This work questions how a photograph that can only represent what is in front of the camera's lens conveys the ineffable nature of the sublime experience, that by definition, exceeds the limits of perception. Using darkroom sleight of hand, I explore the assertion of the logical mind’s attempt to rationalize and tame the incomprehensible.

The production of this work is two-fold: experiential and experimental. I travel to specific sites that embody the sublime experience and photograph them; in the studio, I call on the alchemical properties of analog photography to re-make the landscapes that they hold within them. Combining photographic enlargement and photograms, I produce tonal differentiation on the surface of the photographic print that highlight the transformative properties of the darkroom. By manipulating the chemical trace of cast light, "Mount Analogue" explores how photographic representations functions to make and un-make place.