User:Ari Va

Concept

In Iran in 1988, thousands of political prisoners were forcibly disappeared and extrajudicially executed. The bodies of many victims were not returned to their families, and information about their fate and burial places has continued to be concealed.

The image used in this project is a collage published by Amnesty International showing some of the victims of the 1988 prison massacres. I use this image as a visual trace of people whose disappearance was followed by an attempt to conceal what happened to them.

Through the project, I wanted to create a parallel between this political erasure and the physical degradation of an image. Rather than simply making the faces disappear, I became interested in what happens during the process and how this transformation can be recorded through film.

Aim

The practical aim of the project was to find a form of image degradation that could be observed and filmed while it was happening.

I therefore tested different processes, beginning with slow exposure to river water and sediment and later moving toward faster chemical degradation. The experiments were used to compare the speed and visual effects of the different transformations, before selecting a process for the final filming.

Process

The project developed through a series of experiments. Each test explored a different way of degrading the printed image.

The first experiments used water and natural sediment from the Ilm River. Later tests compared different chemical mixtures. Based on these observations, I moved toward sulfuric acid for the final filming experiment, where the degradation could be recorded in real time at both macro and microscopic scales.

Experiment 1 — Ilm River Water

The first experiment used water collected from the Ilm River together with a small amount of natural sediment. I printed the collage in black and white on regular office paper and tested two different setups.

One print was kept continuously wet in a shallow container. A second print was placed against the inside wall of a closed glass jar and remained fully submerged in the same river water.

Results

The samples were documented after one week and again after 30 days.

During the first week, the contrast became softer, some areas blurred or changed unevenly, and sediment settled on the paper. Most of the visible transformation happened during this first period.

By Day 30, the changes had continued more slowly. The image became slightly lighter and more uneven, with further changes to the surface of the paper, but the faces remained clearly recognizable.

The closed-jar sample showed a similarly gradual transformation. The image remained visible through the water and glass while prolonged immersion and sediment continued to affect the paper.

There was little clearly visible biological activity. Since the experiment did not separately test biological activity, it is difficult to say whether any of the changes were caused by microorganisms or mainly by prolonged exposure to water.

Discussion

The river-water experiment produced visible changes, but the process was slow and difficult to control. Since there was little clearly visible biological activity, I decided to look for faster and more controllable ways of degrading the printed image.

This led me to look for faster and more controllable ways of degrading the printed image.

Shallow Sample

Shallow Sample - Closer look

Closed-jar immersion test

Experiment 2 — Comparative Immersion Test

After the slow river-water experiment, I wanted to compare faster forms of degradation and see how different substances affected the same printed image.

I prepared five copies of the same portrait. Each copy was immersed for approximately four hours in a separate mixture of water and one additional substance: Meister Proper all-purpose cleaner, Frosch dish gel, Brennspiritus, sodium hydroxide (NaOH), or acetone.

After four hours, the samples showed different kinds of transformation. The Meister Proper, dish gel and Brennspiritus mixtures caused relatively subtle changes in contrast, tone and surface texture, while the faces remained clearly visible.

The NaOH mixture produced the strongest physical damage, including tearing, creasing and a partial breakdown of the paper structure. The acetone mixture affected the image differently: the paper remained more intact, but the print developed a strong bluish tonal shift and became visually softer.

The comparison showed that the same image could be altered in very different ways. Some substances mainly changed the tone or surface, while others damaged the physical structure of the paper.

For the film, however, I was not only looking for the strongest final damage. I was interested in a process where the transformation itself could be clearly observed and recorded while it was happening.

After these tests, I tested sulfuric acid separately as a much stronger option. Its rapid and visually complex effect made it suitable for the final filming experiment.

Experiment 3 — Chemical Degradation with Sulfuric Acid

For the final filming experiment, printed images were exposed to 96% sulfuric acid under supervision in the BioLab. The purpose was to record a rapid degradation process while it was taking place.

The process was filmed at different scales. For the macro recordings, prints were placed in a shallow container and exposed to sulfuric acid while the transformation was filmed with a camera and macro lens.

Other samples were observed through two microscope setups. In these recordings, sulfuric acid was added drop by drop directly onto the printed surface. One of the microscope setups allowed the process to be recorded at three different levels of magnification.

Results

The image did not disappear evenly. Different areas changed at different speeds.

The paper darkened, softened and gradually lost its structure. Different parts of the print changed at different speeds, while fragments of individual faces sometimes remained visible after the surrounding material had already broken apart.

At the microscopic scale, the halftone pattern of the print, the texture of the paper, moving liquid and small bubbles became visible as part of the transformation.

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Discussion — Degradation as a Process

At the beginning of the project, I was mainly thinking about degradation as a final condition: an image before and after being damaged. The sulfuric-acid recordings shifted my attention toward degradation as a process unfolding in time.

What became particularly interesting to me was that the image did not disappear evenly. Some faces faded quickly, while fragments of others remained visible for longer. This irregularity became more interesting than simply making the whole image disappear.

Moving between the complete collage, individual faces and the microscopic surface became the main visual outcome of the project.

The sulfuric-acid experiment became the main visual material for a short film. I have started editing the macro and microscopic recordings together, moving between the collective image, individual faces and the physical surface of the print.

The film continues the project beyond the individual experiments and focuses on the tension between material destruction and the continued presence of the faces.

Image source: Amnesty International, Blood-Soaked Secrets: Why Iran’s 1988 Prison Massacres Are Ongoing Crimes Against Humanity. Cover collage of some of the victims of the 1988 prison massacres in Iran. © Amnesty International.