Bio
Morgan Post is an artist, photographer, researcher, author, and educator from New York. He is passionate about the materiality of the photographic image and what that means in a more significant context, that is, contemporary art.
Post is an Adjunct Professor of Photography at Fairfield University in Connecticut and conducts workshops and research at the Penumbra Foundation in New York City. Post also lectures and exhibits nationally and internationally and is the author of Alternative Process Photography for the Contemporary Photographer: A beginner’s guide, published by Taylor & Francis.
Statement
“The image Anatomical Study is a part of a larger body of work printed with the albumen process. The project is primarily influenced by historical photos and paintings used as advertisements or mementos. More broadly, the images were inspired by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and the popularity of nineteenth-century visiting cards, i.e., cartes de visite.
The anatomical torso in the photo is an actual human torso from the late nineteenth century. The skeleton was delicate, and the connecting tissue was modified, color coded, and labeled. The rubber and springs allowed the torso to articulate and stay pliable, which aided in its original use as a teaching tool in a medical school. These modifications can be seen upon detailed inspection of the photograph.
The torso was hung from a stand with wire and was explicitly lit to create depth and contrast, separating the torsos form from the darkness behind it and giving it a more graphic and illustrative effect. Many early cartes de visite were made by printing albumen. Eggs, salt, and silver were required to make this print, and give this anonymous woman a new life.”
