If I Could Have Known Them
If I Could Have Known Them – 2026.
I took inspiration from the amazing darkroom at Gibralter Point Arts Centre, and the rich records of history I found while looking through it. I found a 35mm negative carrier box with a phone number written on it. I called the number and got an answer machine stating the number belonged to someone named Shirley Barrett. I discovered she had lived in Toronto and died a view years ago. I was so inspired by her, and the archival nature of the darkroom that I felt compelled to honour Shirley and every other person who has spent time in that darkroom before me. I found a roll of 16mm blank developed film in the darkroom, and I cut 95 framed off – one for each year Shirley lived, and phytogrammed the 95 frames onto a roll of 35mm black and white film I had brought from home. The phytogramming process represented the way the darkroom’s history had left an imprint on me. After fixing the film, I used Shirley’s own negative carrier to enlarge the film onto photo paper. I used some chemistry from the darkroom, a developer and fixer at least two years old. The developer was mud-coloured, and took 10 minutes to develop each photo, instead of the usual 1 minute development, and resulted in the beautiful brown tone of the images. To display the photos I put them on the darkroom door, with pieces of improperly fixed photo paper above and below reading “Shirley Barrett”, and “I love you both”, the first words I heard Shirley say from her answering machine, and the last words she said before she died, slowly exposing and darkening in the light.
A huge thank you to the amazing people at Gibralter Point, it was an honour to be able to work and learn there.
