Path, 2014
 
This limited edition print by Lee Maelzer originates from an analogue photograph that she has subjected to a lengthy process of destruction and
creative sabotage. The original photograph was irrevocably destroyed, chemically melted and physically broken down by paint thinners and acidic chemicals to a degree that satisfied Maelzer. A small percentage of Maelzer's photographs survive this process, the rest are discarded. Sometimes she then scratches into the degraded photographic surface or applies paint before fixing them in the form of a digital print.
 
Maelzer describes the process: ‘This part of the process takes days, I check on their progress regularly and remove them from the chemicals when each is ready or ruined and has to be discarded. About one in ten will work, acquiring a mystery, painterly quality and other worldliness that the snapshots so lacked. I then wash them and lay them out to dry, then scan, desaturate/crop/alter further where necessary and print them digitally to preserve them.’
 
Digital archival print on Hahnemühle paper
Print size: 20.1 x 28.5 cms
Edition of 7
Signed by the artist
 
£100 unframed