Visual Art · Materials Engineering
Cornaberto
A light- and heat-reactive photograph of a Galician porcelain amulet — three photographs in one, made possible by a printing technique I developed. Showcased at the 2023 Experimental Photo Festival in Barcelona.
The Work
Cornaberto depicts a porcelain Sargadelos amulet from Galicia, Spain — an object of cultural and personal significance. The piece was part of my final project in an experimental photography course at Princeton, and was later selected for exhibition at the 2023 Experimental Photo Festival in Barcelona.
What makes Cornaberto unusual is that it is three photographs registered on the same sheet. Each layer uses a different photographic printing technique, and each becomes visible under a different condition: normal light, ultraviolet light, and heat.
Layer 1 — Normal light
Cyanotype
A photographic printing process using iron salts that produces the characteristic dark blue image visible under normal light.
Layer 2 — UV light
Fluorescent gum bichromate
A gum bichromate print made with fluorescent pigment — a yellow-green layer that glows only under ultraviolet light and is otherwise invisible.
Layer 3 — Heat
Thermochromic gum bichromate
A pink layer printed with thermochromic pigment that appears only when heat is applied. The key innovation: hydrophobic pigments like thermochromic powder can be made printable by adding a few drops of soap as an emulsifier — a technique I developed to solve a genuine materials problem.
