Photografting • Project Statement

2007-present

Photografting, a term coined by Pfister, is the exploration of the confluence where meaning, technique, medium and time meet. The merging of prints from different times, places, people, genres, and added foreign objects, create a new storyline. An image that was once straightforward has now become a complex conversation.

Metamorphose is a sub-series of work within the photografting series, created from a dream, pushing the photographic process and allowing nature to bring her magic. In the dream, a great flood forced Pfister from his home. As he fled, he saw thousands of his prints floating in the water and strewn across a snowy ground. He was surely witnessing his life's work being destroyed.

Once safe to return, Pfister hurried back to try to rescue as many prints as he could but found everything had frozen solid. Peering through the frozen slab he saw more beauty than he ever intended for these prints.

But these last views of the images lived only in Pfister’s memory.

Fueled by this dream, Pfister began freezing photographic prints outdoors in the elements.

Strange, beautiful and unexpected things emerge, transforming the initial intent of the portrait.

He used many types of liquids in this process, including wine, tea, coffee, milk, bubbles etc. Some are frozen solid, while others are in process, in-between freezing and thawing. Most of these prints were photographed throughout this process.

No photoshop or digital manipulation are used; rather a tactile piece is created and photographed once again.