Thomas Ruff: flower.s

To create the images in this series, Ruff uses a combination of digital manipulation and analog techniques to approximate pseudo-solarization (also known as the Sabattier effect), an effect favored by the Surrealists (in particular, Man Ray) in which light and dark areas of an image are partially inverted during the printing process. By invoking early-twentieth-century processes and achieving them through digital means, Ruff’s flower.s raise broader questions about what constitutes photography, and ultimately touches upon the issue of the medium’s veracity.