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Postal Summary, 2018-Present
Shipping box, photo emulsion
Dimensions variable
In 'Postal Summary', Hamaguchi transforms the delivery system into a process for photographic image making. She gets a shipping box at a post office, makes a pinhole in one of its sides, coats the inside with photo emulsion so that its surface becomes photosensitive, and ships it to herself. While moving through the postal system, the box covertly records the shipment process on its photosensitive interior. Once the artist receives the box, she soaks it in chemicals to develop the image. During this process, the box becomes distressed and the shape distorted. The resulting image is often multiperspectival with several spaces superimposed on top of each other and accentuated by the crisscrossing of fluorescent ceiling lights in a phenomenon akin to abstract painting. Each box produces a unique image dependent on where and for how long the box sat in various locations during its shipment. Hamaguchi engages in this practice every time she goes on a trip, even utilizing international shipping services to accomplish the task, or sometimes she just sends a box from her house to her studio. The box itself is the photograph and at the same time the camera.
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Photo Credit: Jeremy Lawson