When the light becomes eternal

By Frank Hamrick
Ruston, Louisiana: Old Fan Press, 2023. Edition of 50.
8.75 x 8.75”; 16 unnumbered pages. 14 Tintype photographs altered. Cover art, Craw Modern typeface, and Old Fan Press logo relief printed using oil-based ink on handmade cotton rag paper. Bound with 18/3 Irish linen thread. Softcover with sewn binding. Inkjet printed on double-sided matte Red River Paper using Epson UltraChrome HDX archival pigment ink. Press numbered. Signed by the artist.
Frank Hamrick, Colophon: “The solar eclipse darkened the afternoon sky. Frogs and crickets by the pond started to croak and chirp, then fell silent again when the sun reappeared. My neighbor suggested I fly a toy drone before using the professional drone at work. The manual’s translated directions stated the light on the toy drone would flash when first turned on while the propellers accelerate towards operational speed and then be ready to fly when the light becomes eternal. Chance, the simple gardener in ‘Being There’, became Chauncey Gardiner to others who misinterpreted his conversations about gardens as metaphors for cycles in global economics and relationships between individuals. Some things in life briefly take flight while others achieve orbit.
“Moving subjects, shifting light, failing equipment, recycled materials, as well as contaminated, homemade, and exhausted chemistry helped create these original wet plate collodion tintype photographs between 2013 and 2021 in Georgia, Louisiana, Texas and Tennessee.”
$100