“Found not conquered”
Cyanotype on watercolor paper
2021
To exist is essentially equal to being found, located, observed and documented. The results of these acts produce documents that specifically refer to the subject. These can take the form of information ranging from geographical location represented by longitude and latitude / map coordinates to visual evidences of encounters within the contact zone.
The creation of the cyanotype series was an ekphrastic exercise that forced me to reflect on the events that transpired inside the UP Campus from the 1st to the 9th of February 1971 as I tried to imagine the location of the photographer of each of the three photographs I have selected. This produced two sets of geographical coordinates recorded on the prints, the position of the photographer and the location of the subject/s. The existence of these two sets of geographical coordinates define the intersection of spaces. Within that same space, islands are discovered, faith-based belief systems are changed, conflicts emerge, individuals resist or are subjugated.
Pratt, Mary Louise. “Arts of the Contact Zone.” Profession. 1991. 33-40. PDF. www.jstor.org/stable/25595469. Accessed 2 Apr. 2021
Sontag, Susan. On Photography. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1977. 5. Print.
Marc San Valentin is an associate professor and the current chairperson of the Department of Visual Communication of the College of Fine Arts. His photographic practice ranges from turn -of-the-20th century photographic printing process to contemporary and emerging digital imaging methods. Currently, he is working on the incorporation and optimizing digital imaging methods in creating cyanotypes and gum bichromate prints.