Wabi Sabi in Alt Photographs Presentation

Having accomplished the best fibre based, selenium toned, silver gelatin prints I possibly could make, they left me cold. They were like looking through a window to an object or scene distant and removed from me. I wanted the experience of holding an art object in my hands. This led me into the realm of hand coated prints using processes from the 1800's.

It's now time to consider how the prints will be presented on a wall, in a gallery, or maybe even in hand made books. Gampi and Kozo are whispering my name. The usual dry mounted, over matted, framed print under glass or acrylic seems like a huge step in the wrong direction.

How do you display your alt prints? Does wabi sabi permeate your workflow and/or presentation methods?

A nice explanation of wabi sabi in the context of photography:


A thread title search for 'wabi sabi' brought up this thread by mooseontheloose:

I guess it goes without saying that wabi sabi requires that the wabi sabi effects be intentional and not simply an excuse for poor technique and processing. I've seen both kinds. I present my alt prints just like I present my standard prints. I use archival corners and an overmat rather than dry mounting.

This hits close to home for me. Even down to how you make the print: Do you leave the brush marks at the margin? Or mask the margin? (I do neither: I trace the outline of the negative on a light table, then try to brush the sensitizer freehand within the lines.)

As a temporary way of putting images up on the wall, I have a couple of large metal chalkboards and I use tiny magnets to "tack" prints up on them.

For more permanent mounting, I hinge the print onto a piece of foam core, and then mount that in an unglazed tray frame. That way the paper is not occluded by mats and glass. The textures are important to alt prints (I work in kallitypes) and I don't want to put anything between the paper and the viewer.

Frame shops have a cow about this. Not my problem.

Rolleiflexible said:

Frame shops have a cow about this. Not my problem.

Click to expand...

I handle my own mounting and framing so nobody has a cow, It is the only considerate thing to do.

A picture should speak for itself. What it's called and how it is presented is less meaningful.

faberryman said:

I guess it goes without saying that wabi sabi requires that the wabi sabi effects be intentional and not simply an excuse for poor technique and processing. I've seen both kinds. I present my alt prints just like I present my standard prints. I use archival corners and an overmat rather than dry mounting.

Click to expand...

Good point.

My next paper order will probably be around 30gsm Gampi & Kozo papers so the corners won't work, unless the photograph is rice/wheat glued to a stronger backing piece of paper.

Like the idea of the piece not being dry mounted.

Rolleiflexible said:

...For more permanent mounting, I hinge the print onto a piece of foam core, and then mount that in an unglazed tray frame. That way the paper is not occluded by mats and glass. The textures are important to alt prints (I work in kallitypes) and I don't want to put anything between the paper and the viewer...

Click to expand...

Float mounting and no glazing is the direction I'm leaning right now. The piece would 'hover' and stand on its own.

What frames do you use? Metal? Wood? Fairly deep? My wife does Shou-Sugi-Ban woodworking...gets a guy thinking!

awty said:

A picture should speak for itself. What it's called and how it is presented is less meaningful.

Click to expand...

Sure...pop your unmatted prints into Walmart frames and get them reviewed by a good gallery, museum, or collector.

Of course it matters!

I do get what I think your point is though...all the bells & whistles are meaningless if the image sucks. That's not what this thread is about. It's about how best to present photographs to enhance/support the qualities most important to the artist.

If presentation didn't matter, thumbtacks would be just fine.

MurrayMinchin said:

Sure...pop your unmatted prints into Walmart frames and get them reviewed by a good gallery, museum, or collector.

Of course it matters!

I do get what I think your point is though...all the bells & whistles are meaningless if the image sucks. That's not what this thread is about. It's about how best to present photographs to enhance/support the qualities most important to the artist.

If presentation didn't matter, thumbtacks would be just fine.

Click to expand...

I get my frames second hand from charity stores. Which is probably more wabi sabi than anything else.

awty said:

A picture should speak for itself. What it's called and how it is presented is less meaningful.

Click to expand...

Good presentation helps that. At the very least, it gets nicely out of the way, and allows the picture to speak without distraction.
One of the best reasons to mat your prints is that the mat helps separate the print from any distracting clutter around it.
I generally think about presentation choices when I'm printing, because how the artifact that one creates when one makes a print works with those choices helps form the end result appears to the world.

MurrayMinchin said:

Good point.

My next paper order will probably be around 30gsm Gampi & Kozo papers so the corners won't work, unless the photograph is rice/wheat glued to a stronger backing piece of paper.

Like the idea of the piece not being dry mounted.

Click to expand...

I hate dry-mounting, especially for alt processes. The paper is an essential part of the image. Flattening it robs the paper of its inherent quality as paper. If you just hinge the paper to a substrate, it will have a much more natural look in the frame.

MattKing said:

Good presentation helps that. At the very least, it gets nicely out of the way, and allows the picture to speak without distraction.
One of the best reasons to mat your prints is that the mat helps separate the print from any distracting clutter around it.
I generally think about presentation choices when I'm printing, because how the artifact that one creates when one makes a print works with those choices helps form the end result appears to the world.

Click to expand...

I don't think the Japanese used Matt boards. From what I've seen of traditional Japanese art it is mounted on a simple frame. What's wrong with that? Otherwise it becomes something else.