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