A few days ago, I accompanied Ms Noir to the Wellcome Library. The Library is a fabulous resource: while Helen researched for her upcoming show (see below), I spent the day investigating spirit photography and mediæval gem lore.
EXHIBIT: Hyppolite Baraduc, early photographer of the soul and its emanations. Here, he describes his technique (quoted in Invention of Hysteria: Charcot and the Photographic Iconography of the Salpetriere):
Baraduc. I love your images. Are your books available in English? I hesitate to look. May you remain, as do your fêted photographs of the soul, somewhere in my imagination, as water is in water; darkness deep in deeper darkness.
[Helen Noir debuts her work Glass Harmonica as part of the Performative season at Digitaria, on 31st August. ]