Thomas Jenkins

Visual Symphonies is a continually evolving visual response to the world and environment, inspired by the spontaneity of jazz to create visual discord, an individual and unique process of making an image that can never be repeated.

The process is time consuming, and each movement compromises multiple pieces that sometimes seamlessly fit together while others are discordantly connected. The entire rolls vary from 7 to 18 m according to the concept of their creation and the environment in which they are displayed. Like the reverberation of sound through a given area they will never be displayed the same way more than once.

The malleability of the photographs comes from the reactive and performative nature of jazz, which is reflected in process, display, and experience.

These photographs are an indulgence into colour, which is a fundamental form of visual communication. Describing colour is intrinsically difficult, as a single colour like red can only be described through comparison to red objects or entirely different colours.

These triptychs are part of a performance piece of continually altering and rotating displays. With an ever-growing library of colours, the current amount of 20 different blocks results in 1140 different combinations.  

Each combination has its own connection and conversion between the colours while individual viewers have their own perception and experience of the combination of colours.

This series began by photographing silver surfaces on photographic film, culminating in printing on silver gelatine paper. Silver is reflective by nature and because of this phenomenon silver contains all colour that exists in the waves of light that are reflected.

Moving forward from this point I began physically trying to coax the colour out of discarded photographic paper. Using alchemy as a contextual template, the work aims to transform something worthless into something precious.

Through this process the paper reacts and transforms into entirely individual and unique photographs which represent nothing but their own transformation.

In contrast to the Alchemy series, these pieces are created with new photographic paper. They respond to the abstraction of photography in contemporary times; selfies and digital feeds are combined with the duality of the physical and digital persona.

The paper is soaked in photographic chemicals and water for extended periods of time. Gradually, the water stagnates and the chemistry becomes inactive. The water begins to erode and destroy the emulsion and the dyes within the paper, which leads to an uncontrollable response.

The paper is rolled tightly therefore direct contact is made throughout it. This then leaves a trace from the reactive side, creating a two-sided print of vastly different aesthetics which can only exist due to the other.

These images explore the temporality of matter and entropic decay.

Subjects exist in a state of perpetual limbo. The structural integrity of the matter is constantly shifting and altering over time. As new materials are introduced to the liquids, any semblance of individuality is destroyed and the original structure disappears, leaving behind nothing but a gesture toward something new.