Distorted Landscapes: The Bleeding Colors of Matthew Brandt’s Chromogenic Prints

Matthew Brandt’s chromogenic prints in his Lakes and Reservoirs (2011-2014) series provide direct representations of natural landscapes in addition to visualizations of the water chemistry of the specific sites where the photographs were taken. Brandt’s process of taking water samples from the locations where he shoots allows for the prints to be developed in the very water that they are visually representing. However the unique development process employed by Brandt results in the individually colored emulsion layers to separate and bleed. The final distorted landscape challenges traditions of romantic or sublime landscape depictions while also engaging alternative modes of data visualization. Due to the unique chemistry of every water sample, each location’s prints are distorted in different ways. Though not statistically produced, Brandt’s photographs give a greater agency to the chemicals of the water and the colors of the c-print’s emulsion layers in how they interact in the development of the print. Simultaneously disorienting yet quietly representational, Lakes and Reservoirs uses color to make visible the ecological data that is hidden by traditional landscape photography.