Zvuky Prahy / Sounds of Prague

Fragment of an 45 minutes magic ritual by Sam Ashley without audience in the SPZ Gallery, Pštrossova street. The goal was to smooth the way, to eliminate bad luck and to prevent any problems from arising at the opening the following day.
"It's challenging to make a photograph of something paranormal, because the photographer has too much control. And every development in photographic technology has been about exerting more control, a devotion to enabling the photographer to determine every aspect of the image.
But by definition "paranormal" means going beyond what we know, reaching into the unknown to find experiences that we don't determine.
OF THE ESSENCE is an exploration of divination, like gazing into a crystal ball, reading tea leaves or using chance or noise as a screen on which we might see an influence of paranormal forces reflected, a way of making that influence perceivable.
By allowing the film's emulsion to slowly decay the image is allowed to transform from something deterministic into something else, something unexpected and beyond the absolute control that humanity (and photography) is usually obsessed with.
There is no guarantee that any of the transformations that we can see in the resulting images are due to ghosts or other spirits. But as with any form of divination those influences are inevitably present." S.Ashley
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