Recollections

Recollections is a handmade Van Dyke Brown photobook made under the theme of reminiscence and memory using digital negatives of digital drawings based on photographs I took in Vietnam throughout multiple trips home since 2016. Figures, objects, and patterns that are parts of the visual and geographical landscape that I experienced during my childhood and adolescence in my homeland were either lifted from the photos or traced back from memory and reiterated multiple times through layers of redrawing and reprinting, negatives and positives, each time a bit different from the last to mimic the act of recalling a scene or a memory and having the image gradually distorted after each iteration. This process of repeating an image transforms the original experience or memory into an idealized recollections of an absent past illustrates the blurry line between missing and remembering and the deceptive allure of nostalgia.

Each piece of paper was hand-coated with an emulsion layer that after seven minutes of exposure in an UV unit and fixing, will produce a deep Van Dyke Brown background for the figures to emerge from. Brush marks and paper warping’s were controlled during the application, exposing, and developing stages to create a distinctive textured background and uneven contact points between the digital negative and the paper that leads to the figures appearing defocused, further communicate the blurry and distant nature of memory. This labor-intensive and time-consuming process in combination with the hazy visuals of the final print provide a stark contrast to modern photography’s reputation of speed, convenience, and photographic accuracy.