The 12 images seen here represent three different series made across decades.
“Botanicals in Blue” combines my exploration of X-ray imaging, with the 19th-century Cyanotype process. Both photographic techniques are camera-less and intertwine the realms of science, art, and technology. X-ray images with their diaphanous monochrome tones, offer a glimpse into the inner structures of objects and organisms, revealing intricate details hidden from the naked eye. Cyanotypes have historically been used to document flora, and are renowned for their distinctive blue-toned hues and ethereal aesthetic. The final works are housed within a blue-stained, handcrafted frame specific in color to each image, creating a unique and unified work of art. This series is motivated by my interest in the ineffable quality of nature. There is a sophistication and beauty in a flower that transcends human creation.
“Blue Body” is a menagerie of self-portraits. The images are not about me, precisely; they are about the body’s presence in space, the body as a locus of awareness. The figure often appears transparent, or as shadow, while the interplay of light and darkness, positive and negative, yields something at once abstract and symbolic. I love the tactile quality of cyanotype on heavy watercolor paper, and the way the blue lends an ethereal quality to the image.
The “Obscure Structures” series explores enigmatic buildings whose function is often a mystery and whose haunting and abstract architectural forms seem to exist in a parallel universe. The images are captured on large format negative film without the use of lens. A “Zone Plate”, which forms an image through diffraction, was used and is responsible for the soft and ethereal quality.
Bryan Whitney is a photographer and artist in New York City whose work involves experimental imaging techniques including x-rays, lensless imaging and alternative processes such as cyanotype. Whitney holds an MFA in Photography from the Tyler School of Art and a BA in the Psychology of Art from University of Michigan. He has taught photography at Rutgers University and currently teaches at the International Center of Photography in New York City and the New York Botanical Garden. A recipient of a Fulbright Grant for lectures on American Photography he has exhibited across the United States and internationally. His work has appeared in magazines such as Harpers Bazaar, Fortune, the New York Times, as well as being featured in books, posters and billboards. His X-ray botanical images have recently been acquired as a stamp designs by the US Postal Service.
