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Hi Dave !
Really happy for you and wish you perfect
recovery !
You came back; we are sincerely happy for that
!
And now, this good news makes me think of
something which recently really impressed me : I am a long-time subscriber of
LensWork Extended magazine edited by Brook Jensens. Bill Jay had
been a regular contributor of LensWork magazine and, as most of you know, Bill
Jay passed away some months ago.
Brook Jensens decided to publish a special issue
of LensWork, totally devoted to Bill Jay filled with Bill's portfolios,
interviews, videos, "end notes", etc.
But one of the most striking article for me was
:
"Ashes to ashes : my last claim to fame"
by Bill Jay
1st part of the article is written by Bill Jay,
and it begins wiith this extraordinary sentence :
If you are reading this
then I am dead.Which is a bummer. The words, however, were written while I was
alive.
Last words by Bill Jay are :
It may not be as unique an idea as I had hoped
but I will not be around to think of anything better. Or care.
Now the 2nd part of the article is entitled
:
Only for You Billy-Bob — Only for You (Notes to accompany Ashes to
Ashes: My Last Clame to Fame)
by James Hajicek
And there, James Hajicek describes the whole
story of his printing of Bill Jay portrait using "Bill's cremains+ Gum
Bichromate" process.
In a very moving style, James Hajicek
writes in 11 parts, illustrated by several photographs : Project
History , General Technical Aspects, Preparing the Positive, Paper Selection,
Paper Preparation (days 1 &2), Coating Preparation (day 3), Exposure,
Development, Muyltiple Printing (days 4-7), Edition, End.
I have really been impressed by the "density" of
the project, conceived by Bill Jay and worked by James Hajicek with an
incredible respect. and beyond Bill Jay's personality I consider as a real
artistic gesture for a photographer to design and organize how his own cremains
will be incorporated as the basic material of a hand made
picture...
Dave, nothing to do directly with you but I'm
sure Bill Jay's "ashes gum bichromate" project will find some echoe with many of
alt-process list subscribers !
We live in a fascinatng world!
Alternative cheers from France,
Jean
Sent: Monday, November 16, 2009 9:15 PM
Subject: From My Heart
Thanks to all who sent me the well wishes. Yes, it is
amazing what they can do
nowadays. They opened the chest and rib cage, took
my heart out, and stopped it
for half an hour! That would have caused the
blood to be intoxicated as there
would be no oxygyn pumping, so they cut
two holes in my body and circulated the
blood with a machine. The whole
surgery took about 4 hours.
The doctor did warn that I might not come
back, but I did!
I am recovering faster that my friends and doctors
thought, so the surgery must
have been very well done.
They even
gave me a picture of my heart! One day I might scan it and make
an
alt-photo print of it. Ok, ok, maybe it is a bad attempt to make this
email on
topic.
Thanks again.
From my heart (which I can
really show you),
Dave
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