applied color (2016)

“Applied color” is a photographic term used during and following the US Civil War. This process involved applying a rose tint to the cheeks of white subjects in photographs of the antebellum period, to make them appear more lively. I wondered what the term ‘applied color’ could mean if I added my ‘black’ body to these archival images; bringing about a subversive dimensionality, causing the viewer to question what my body means in an anachronistic space.

Made in collaboration with photographer Richard Burrows