Jim Rohan, Film is Dead – Guest

Film is Dead is a long-term project using plastic cameras and film that expired from roughly forty to sixty years ago. This exhibit combines two series, one concerning the natural world and the other centered around the man-made environment.

For many years, I was satisfied with making straight plastic camera photos with fresh film. However, much of my recent work has been about the deconstruction of my images and using extremely expired film allowed another avenue to appease my destructive image making nature even further.

There’s something strangely comforting about using film that’s as old as oneself. I used films with names like “Lucky”,“Thrifty”, “Rex” and) “DandiPan”. These films were often brittle, or sometimes, strangely sticky. Now and then, I’d find strange algae-like life forms growing on them. All of the films have long ceased production.

It remains a challenge using ancient material masquerading as film. There were many blank rolls that I unintentionally shot because the film was incapable of producing an image. Sometimes the rolls are clear. Other times, the rolls are nearly black. And, of course, I am certain that my best images remain lost forever on those empty rolls.

Film is Dead. Long live film.