Now was time to photograph my Rorschach work as I had intended. I got a few lights from loan central and a tripod. I got a plinth and began experimenting with positioning and the lighting. I soon realised that one of the lights was too soft so I had to use my phone torch light as the second light. Still, it worked well.
I placed the plinth in the corner so when the lights would shine you can see both shadows clearly. The lights were slightly different temperatures so I am hoping to change that for the actual install.
This one is using my translucent acrylic Rorschach. I love how the acrylic shapes are hard to make out especially against the white wall and plinth. It kind of blends together in a ghostly effect. This wasn’t intentional when taking the photo but afterwards I noticed how the centre line is lined up to the corner of the wall. This looks really cool and adds to the effect of it blending in with the background which makes the dark shadows seem to appear out of nowhere. You can vaguely make out the shapes in the acrylic but they produced really strong shadows onto the wall which is exactly what I was going for. It plays with perception, the acrylic object acting as the Rorschach ink blots, simply a visually interesting ink drawing, whilst the shadows act as the patients perception of the shapes made. In the brain they are converted to clear imagery, represented in this work not by the imagery itself i.e a dragon, but by the crisp and bold shadows it makes.
At this point I just had one light and used the flash on my phone to light the other side. This didn’t come out as intended but I think it came out more interesting. Due to the angle of the photo the acrylic object looks 2D with the form facing forward. This meant that the shadow produced of the other side of object seems to be appearing out of nowhere. It tricks the viewer and their perception. I want to try and take more photos like this intentionally, and set it up the opposite way. This is because the other face was designed to be more threatening compared to the face that is shadowed in this picture, so I think swapping them around will emphasise this more—- The rorschach tests don’t necessarily look lighthearted or jolly, but the perception that patients have and their usage in mental institutions are even darker than meets the eye.
This was originally to get a few photographs so I could clear my space for my pocket work for the install, but after using the lights I just thought it was too cool not to use for the final installation. I wasn’t feeling too inspired by my pocket work at this point but the rorschach work was turning out as I had hoped.