Rouen Cathedral
Inspired by Claude Monet's Rouen Cathedral series, this project explores the relationship between colour, perception, and photographic representation. While Monet repeatedly painted the same architectural subject under changing light conditions, I use the historical gum bichromate process to create variations of a single digital image through different colours, textures, and imperfections.
Rather than depicting architecture, the subject is an intimate self-portrait — a screenshot of my computer desktop. In an age when our digital environments reveal increasingly personal aspects of our lives, the contents of a computer can become more intimate than a conventional photographic portrait.
Through multiple layers of pigment, brushstrokes, and the unpredictable nature of the photographic process, the original digital image is repeatedly transformed. Variations in colour, sharpness, and technical imperfections create different interpretations of the same subject, blurring the boundaries between digital information, photographic materiality, and personal identity.
The image itself contains an error message concerning incorrect colour settings, introducing another layer of irony into a project centred on colour reproduction.