10 Sheets 1973 Expired Film. MFA. Summer. (2024)
In homage to interconnectedness.
“Our interconnectedness — we should not be thinking about art or creativity in a one dimensional way, think of it as footnotes. We should always be referencing all different points that made us who we are, or who made the work be what it is, because it does take a village.”
—Legacy Russell
Cornell land is both shadow and substance, a science fiction trip into the narrative of Rod Sterling’s The Twilight Zone. Massive waterfall in a gorge carves directly through campus like an angry writhing serpent. Every year student(s) die thinking they can swim. The serpent swallows all. Original architecture is gothic. Every building erected is truly spectacular. On campus museum is Brutalist Architecture (think evil bad guy lair). The entirety of the campus is an homage to architecture. Gardens growing ideas. Bibliophiles foraging. The entire campus has a witchy feel. Ubiquitous blend of nature, and art.
context: I arrived summer 2024 with $3.91 in my bank account. The month prior, myself (+ cohorts) attended the Soil Factory Residency (Ithaca, NY), hosted by Neil Schill. Month later Neil gifted me 14 sheets of expired Kodak TXP 4×5 film from 1973—an act of generosity that sparked this body of work. Vernell Dunams (MFA cohort) provided crucial sensitometry advice on hand processing 50+ year old film. Jen Gioffre (Cornell Digital + BW Lab Principle), salvaged tainted Cold Press Printing Paper roll left behind prior semester; viewable vertical black sharpie over word: FREE (note: 10 Sheets 1973 Expired Film. MFA. Summer. – presented in exhibition form – created for visiting professor Nydia Blas’s class, Storytelling & Constructing the Photographic Image).
NOTES
I. Legacy Russell, quoted in Gem Fletcher’s podcast The Messy Truth: Conversations On Photography, Campbell Addy – On Growth. 2022.
2. I.M. Pei, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, the University of Cornell. 1973.
3. Rod Sterling, Twilight Zone, Twilight Zone Introduction. 1959.
4. Joseph Rafferty III, 2026 MFA Candidate, Image Text Program, the University of Cornell
Instagram: @joseph_rafferty
