Liv Harris

in the twilight and when the sky is clouded

to trace the surface of the earth
©Liv Harris 2026

six 8x10 photograms on expired silver gelatin paper, black tea developer, 2025

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2024

This work is comprised of photograms of wax puddles from burning 6 birthday candles that spell out my name. This work explores a range of different failures - technical and personal. The title is 6 asterisks to censor my name as I have never really connected with it and that has always made me feel a bit like a failure.

The prints themselves are a failure as I made the tea developer too diluted, which resulted in the prints being uneven and having low contrast. I imagined the prints to have a halo of light around the centre, from being exposed to the light of the candle burning, however this is not visible in any print at all.

I glued the end of each candle to the photographic paper so the candles could stand on their own, reducing my role to an observer watching them fully melt, simply letting the photographic paper record the process with as little intervention from me as possible.