Raymond Thompson Jr

I have harvested the power of the sun for my most recent series of self-portrait lumen
prints, Playing in the Dark. This work comments on the nature of photography as a
scientific process and the role photography has played in reinforcing America’s racial
caste system. More importantly the series asks the viewer to look deeper, by purposely
deemphasizing my body with various levels of dark tones and colors. My body is not
easily consumed in this work. I used the lumen printing process, because the way
images are rendered on the surface of the prints creates a shroud that forces the viewer
to investigate at close range. The series consists of silver gelatin prints that have been
split toned with selenium.
I was inspired by African American photographer Roy DeCarava’s printing technique,
which focused on underexposure, soft papers and an incredible range of dark and gray
tones. DeCarava was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to complete his book. “The
Sweet Flypaper of Life.” In this work he focuses on everyday black life in Harlem. He
purposely avoided the imagery that was typically published of blacks that focused on
the extremes.
In Teju Cole’s essay, “A True Picture of Black Skin,” published in the book Black
Futures, he argues that DeCarava’s darkroom printing palette reverses the power
structures associated with the white gaze in photography. “The viewer’s eye might at
first protest, seeking more conventional contrasts, wanting more obvious lighting. But,
gradually, there comes an acceptance of the photograph and its subtle implications: that
there’s more there than we might think at first place, but also that when we are
looking at others, we might come to the understanding that they don’t have to give
themselves up to us. They are allowed to stay in the shadows if they wish,” Cole writes.

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