Cynthia Davis

Hand-Altered Polaroid Photographs

As a young girl I was always interested in art and I explored many different types of arts and crafts throughout my school years. I eventually went on to pursue a BFA degree in painting at the University of Colorado. In my last year  at CU I began to delve into photography. Learning to do my own darkroom work greatly expanded for me the possibilities of the medium. In the years after graduation, I immersed myself in photography and gained extensive darkroom experience while I apprenticed at the Denver Art Museum’s Photography Department.

Photography is a technical art medium that is fascinatingly diverse. I am continually drawn to explore the alternative processes that reveal the human hand at work. For me exposing the image onto photographic film is simply the beginning of the creative journey.

I initially discovered by accident that Polaroid Time-Zero film could be physically manipulated. I immediately saw the semblance to painting and was entranced that I could physically interact directly with the photographic emulsion. With some research and many boxes of film, I discovered that I could blend colors, create textures and etch lines. I learned to “paint” with the Time-Zero film emulsion and the resulting images reveal a captivating ambiguity and duality between photography and painting, realism and impressionism. It became the perfect medium for me I have now been working exclusively with the process for over 20 years.

In 2007 Polaroid decided to cease making the Time-Zero film. I was able to stock pile some of the film, however, and continue working and selling my images. My images continue to increase in value and become collector’s items since the demise of the film and the loss of this innovative art form.