UNCERTAIN TIMES
Toned cyanotypes (8" x 10.5" in.)

Since the last week of February, life has changed. Many of us have been isolated at home, scared and paranoid. The fear and uncertainty of some countries during the first weeks of 2020 have become a global struggle for the human race.

What is the new normal? "Stay in; it's safer not to go out."
 
It is still hard to digest what is going on. People are fighting for survival against tiny deadly droplets. This situation is a nightmare. If you die, you die alone, untouchable, no good-byes. The plague is everywhere and invisible.

The last months, magazines and newspapers displayed masked human beings all around. Seeing the world through a plastic shield or behind a mask is not only for doctors and nurses anymore. These safety protection devices have become necessary in the fight for survival on the streets, in the stores, in the parks, everywhere.

In my lockdown, the overwhelming printed information in magazines and newspapers became my new way to interact with the surrealism of this apocalyptic landscape. Are TV, media, and printed information the safest ways to "leave home" without getting sick?

This series of prints shows the way I am dealing with this plague. The materiality of the images printed on the magazines has challenged the way I see reality. Magazine and newspapers' images are pristine, clear, and sharp, but that perfection spins my brain. 
 
This form of interpretation has been translated in the way I processed my camera-less prints. The images in the magazines and newspapers were exposed on photographic paper (lumen prints). The material of the magazine sheets I selected is very thin and light, causing a new image printed as a negative from the positive. The original image was printed on the photo paper with its reverse because of its translucency creating a double exposure effect. These first uncontrolled results passed through a digital process pushing the lumen prints details, shadows and highlights. Finally, the new digital images returned to the printed paper using cyanotype toned with tea.

The way these prints are made is a translation of the mental process I've been exposed to during the last months. They are concepts and abstractions of how I am dealing with this uncertain time where political interests are mixed with people's health and life