"I have also noticed that people's hands no longer turn black after reading the newspaper...Its materiality used to leave stains on the bathroom's white hand-towels, as a reminder that the world we had absorbed in its minutia...is, in reality little more than the dabs of dirty ink neatly arranged on the surface of the cheapest possible paper"
-Vik Muniz
Muniz, V. (2005 ) "Dirty Hands".
A Primer From A to Z, 82-93.
Vik Muniz's article is about the possibilities of the artist's hand within mechanically reproduced imagery. A photographer can wield as much control as a painter with his artwork, and manipulates his imagery in a similar manner. The artist laments the overwhelming replacement of the tangible within the digital age; entire libraries worth of knowledge can now be found on a single computer. He writes that record collections and personal libraries have, by and large, lost the well-earned esteem that they once held. Muniz' artwork consists mainly of appropriations of classic works of art and media photographs, which he has translated into a new medium. A recent series of his is based upon the antiquated halftone process of printed dots, which are read as an image. Muniz selected infamous newspaper photographs, such as a shot of the Loch Ness Monster, and one of Hindenburg explosion. He increased the size of these images greatly and painted each dot of information by hand in a new material, a process that educated both his hands and his mind.
I share a kindred bond with Muniz in our respect for photography as a tangible medium. Perhaps I am superstitious, but I prefer to record all of my images on film; it is reassuring to see the actual physical negative of the picture I have taken. I choose to do as much of my work before the lens as possible, and do not care much for digital manipulation. I agree with the artist that too many processes have become de-humanized and digital.
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