To achieve his alternate worlds, Osheen invented a process to manipulate black and white film. In a petri dish, he floats a negative in a mixture of water and chemicals - a unique chemistry he's named Formula 5000 - then manipulates the film using dental and jewellery-making tools, as well as syringes. (One can see the negative carrying a material memory of this chemical bath into Osheen's final prints, such as in “Morphogenesis," where a similarly translucent form appears to have been soaked and softly crumpled, floating in liquid.) After he removes the solution, he continues to manipulate the negative while it's drying. In the darkroom - where he sometimes layers multiple negatives - he tones his prints with sepia gold and selenium. This gives the final black and white prints a subtle tritone look, with cool shadows, pinkish mid tones, and warmer highlights that create a 3D effect. In Osheen's Black Garden series, which depicts landscapes of Armenia and Artsakh, the otherworldly results of his darkroom techniques convey the concept of a place's history.
- Excerpt from "Floating" by Corinna Vangerwen, PhotoED Magazine
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"Saturn From Another Earth" Silver gelatin print. Image © Osheen HarruthoonyanABOUT OSHEEN
Osheen Harruthoonyan is a photographer merging movement with themes of cultural heritage and renewal. Hand printed on fiber based gelatin silver paper, his limited edition prints bring together images of the macro - the sun, Saturn, mount Ararat - with the micro - specks of dust, tiny organisms - to create a new perspective of the world around us, challenging our perception of familiar sights and landscapes through interweaving themes of hope and wonder into the visual narratives we interact with on a daily basis.Osheen's work has been featured in numerous international exhibits, collections and publications, including the Boston Public Library, Aga Khan Museum, Museum London, The Louvre, Hudson's Bay New York, National Gallery of Canada, as well as features on Vice!, Bravo! Arts, Space Channel, the CBC's "Exhibitionists" and the Marriott Courtyard Hotel in Los Angeles.Harruthoonyan currently resides in New York where he continues to print his work in a traditional wet darkroom.
