I first discovered the work of Ahmed Salvador and Scott McMahon several years ago. I was visiting the previous location of the marvelous Bridgette Mayer Gallery in Philadelphia, and stumbled upon an installation in a tiny closet cubby space featuring images created by the light emitted by fireflies. It was like taking a deep breath in a cocoon of wonder. The experience still stays with me.

Years later, I got to meet Ahmed Salvador while he was expertly installing my fragile ceramic work at The Philadelphia International airport. It is no surprise that someone who cares so intently for the art works of hundreds of artists would make thoughtful and captivating pieces. I became more acquainted with the collaborative work developed with Scott McMahon and began planning an opportunity to work with them. 

Invisible Dynasty at No. 5 Butchie Alley is an immersive experience. McMahon/Salvador create images using film photography. They manipulate chemical processes, employ acts of chance that violently expose the film and mail the canisters back and forth. It is a process of perpetual motion. In many of the images the sprocket holes of the film are featured as part of the work, making it known that this is not a digital activity. The photographs are more object-like in their occupation. More like an etching or multi-media painting, they are portals that draw the viewer in for closer inspection, wondering how each intimate universe was created. 

Please join us for an Artist discussion beginning at 5:30 p.m., followed by the opening reception on Saturday, May 4th from 6-9 p.m. at No. 5 Butchie Alley. The exhibition runs through June 15th. Gallery hours are Saturday and Sunday 12-4 p.m. and by appointment.

Pictured above: A tree was photographed for an entire roll of film. The roll was mailed. The recipient froze the film, baked it, froze it again, then dried it by using a blowtorch.

Inkjet print from 35mm color negative film. 2021

W 21.5 x H 11.5”

AVAILABLE WORKS

All works $300.00 - Inquire about vinyl wall pieces.

1) {wall piece} - Images were taken of an abandoned school with a plastic camera. The film was unraveled, placed under flattened Play-Doh and flashed with light. The modeling compound provided enough of a resist to color the exposure in random ways. Oil from the Play-Doh affected the emulsion as well.

Inkjet print from medium format color negative film. 2021

2) - A tree was photographed for an entire roll of film. The roll was mailed. The recipient froze the film, baked it, froze it again, then dried it by using a blowtorch.

Inkjet print from 35mm color negative film. 2021

W 21.5 x H 11.5”

3) - A New Mexico desert landscape was shot with a pinhole camera. The sheets were wrapped in tinfoil that had been poked with holes. They were mailed, the recipient had them developed.

Inkjet print from two superimposed 4x5 Fujichrome sheets. 2021

W 20.5 x H 16.5”

4) - A roll of NPS160 was shot. The film was subjected to holes being drilled into it. The roll was mailed; leaking in light during transit. Letter was received. The recipient developed the film.

Inkjet print from medium format color negative film. 2022

W 21.5 x H 13.75”

5) - An image of a building in St Louis was taken. The roll was mailed. In the dark, 8-shot toy gun caps were placed by the recipient on the film and hammered. It was developed. The light from the mini explosions exposed the film in random ways.

RA-4 chromogenic wet-process print from medium format color negative film. 2021

W 21 x H 17” (framed)

6) - Play-Doh was squished into a tupperware container along with color negative film. The package was mailed, exposing in transit. The recipient peeled off the Play-Doh and loaded the film into a camera. Shots were taken of wintry scenes. The film was developed. The Play-Doh blocked off light in random ways, allowing only parts of the exposure to come through.

RA-4 chromogenic wet-process print from 35mm color negative film. 2022

W 17 x H 21” (framed)

7) {wall piece} - Photograms of fireflies were temporarily captured and placed on 4x5 sheet film. No lens was used. No fireflies were harmed. Bioluminescent light exposure directly onto film... (at their discretion).

Inkjet print from 4x5 color negative sheet film. 2020

W 42 x 52”

8) {wall piece} - Shots were taken of light streaks using a pinhole camera. Play-Doh was flattened. The roll of film was unraveled in the dark.The Play-Doh was spread over the film, which was flashed with room light. The Play-Doh was then peeled off, the film developed. The Play-Doh blocked off light in random ways. The oil from the clay affected the emulsion as well.

Inkjet print from medium format color negative film. 2021

9) - A roll of film was unraveled in the dark. Bang snaps were thrown at it. The roll was mailed. Upon arrival, the recipient loaded the film into a camera and shot images.

Inkjet print from medium format color negative film. 2021

W 15.5 x 15.5”

10) - Images were taken of Fort Belle Fontaine in St. Louis. The roll was mailed. In the dark, 8-shot toy gun caps were placed by the recipient on the film and hammered. It was developed. The light from the mini explosions expose the film in random ways.

Inkjet print from two superimposed medium format frames, 2021

W 15.5 x H 15”

11) - Pinhole image of the Pinnacles in Missouri. Wrapped in tinfoil that was poked with holes and scent exposing in the mail.

Inkjet print from two superimposed 4x5 Fujichrome sheets. 2019

W 19 x H 15.25”

12) - The hinterlands of Central Missouri were photographed. The film was mailed. The recipient double exposed shots of miniature houses against late afternoon clouds.

Inkjet print from 35mm color negative film. 2023

W 21.75 x H 9.75

13) - Images were taken in St Louis. The roll was mailed. In the dark, 8-shot toy gun caps were placed by the recipient on the film and hammered. The light from the mini explosions exposed the film in random ways.

Inkjet print from two superimposed medium format frames, 2021

14) - The interior of a miniature house was photographed with a pinhole camera.

Inkjet print from 35mm color negative film. 2023

15) - A roll of film was unraveled in the dark. Bang snaps were thrown at it. The roll was mailed. Upon arrival, the recipient loaded the film into a pinhole camera and shot images.

RA-4 chromogenic wet-process print from medium format color negative film. 2021

W 21 x H 17” (framed) 

ABOUT INVISIBLE DYNASTY

Invisible Dynasty

University of the Arts alumni Scott McMahon & Ahmed Salvador have been collaborating for decades. Their big egos are tempered by this dual authorship. Since graduation, Scott and Ahmed have lived far apart, so this is mostly done through the mail.

One of them sends the other a piece of film or light sensitive paper packaged in a parcel designed to slowly allow light to leak through small holes: exposing the material in random ways. The film might already have lens exposures, so the random light leaks interrupt recognizable images. Interruption is key. 

At times the film canister gets drilled through either before it's mailed or by the recipient. Violence is also key.

Sometimes they meet up and explosives are used to attain an unwarranted exposure. Gun caps, bang snaps, cannon fuse. They are instantaneous or provide a slow burn: the film is buried in sand or Play-Doh, providing a resist, which pushes the material toward the alchemical. Aleatory blobs. Destruction is the ultimate key.

These perverse techniques urge these factory-made films and papers to the end of their silver tether, and also squeeze the true nature of 'writing with light' out of them. Any reciprocity the light sensitive materials have provided was forcibly obtained. However brutal, the end result is still a vestige of the first 150 years of traditional photography's innovation, grasping, not gasping, for relevance.

Yet there are also fireflies. Caught and placed inside a jar. Scott and Ahmed wait and the bugs blink; they expose themselves. They even expose their legs. All done with sheet film that is placed flat in boxes, complete with accidental and intentional plants gathered during the acquisition process. Doing so creates depth at times, a fake lens shot that was uncannily prescient, a gesture toward the high sensitivity in today's cameras. A diorama of something invisible, except in memories.

They can't play it straight.

Ahmed Salvador received his MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and his BFA from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is a photography instructor at Fleisher Art Memorial. Ahmed has shown his work in various solo and collaborative shows in Philadelphia: at the Halide Project, Space 1026, with InLiquid, Wanderlife Gallery, and at the Sol Mednick Gallery. Additionally, at the ViPhotofest in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, Columbia College's Hardwick Gallery in Missouri, and at the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His solo work has recently been featured in print with Iterant magazine and Vigilante Darkroom Zine. Last year, collaborative work was published online with an interview in Alternative Processes, in print with Analog Explorations and was presented at Equinoks, 'a festival of experimental improvisation' in Luton, England. He will also have his video work projected onto the D&F tower in Denver.

 Scott McMahon is Professor of Art at Columbia College in Columbia, Missouri. He received his MFA from Massachusetts College of Art & Design in Boston, MA and his BFA from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. Selected exhibitions include Poetics of Light, Palace of the Governors New Mexico History Museum Santa Fe, NM & National Media Museum in Bradford UK; Amerykańskie Metafory, Galeria Pusta, Katowice, Poland & Old Gallery ZPAF, Warsaw, Poland; Forgotten Attributes, Three Columns Gallery, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; Home and Other Stations/Sight (Un)Seen, Wanderlife Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, The Bioluminescent Firefly Experiment, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; Second Nature, The Halide Project, Philadelphia, PA; Response Time, Sol Mednick Gallery, Philadelphia, PA. McMahon’s work has been published in Pinhole Photography, Rediscovering a Historic Technique by Eric Renner, The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes by Christopher James, Anthotype by Malin Fabbri, Poetics of Light – Contemporary Pinhole Photography by Eric Renner and Nancy Spencer, Pinhole Journal, The Hand Magazine and Gum Printing – A Step-by-Step Manual, Highlighting Artists and Their Creative Practice by Christina Z. Anderson. He was a resident artist at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine; iPark Artists’ Enclave in East Haddam, CT; Border Art Residency in La Union, New Mexico and Main Street Arts in Clifton Springs, NY.

https://www.scottmcmahonphoto.com/

https://www.instagram.com/mcmahon.salvador/?hl=en

https://www.fireflyletters.com/