For Manufactured Manual, Jaya Pelupessy developed a new photographic technique, in which he approaches the traditional process of silkscreen-printing from a photographic perspective. For this project, Jaya uses silkscreen as a ‘canvas’ to directly expose each negative onto it in a different colour-way, thus creating CMYK-photo-collages. In such a way, he is transforming a tool, normally used for numerous reproductions, into a singular unique work. It is typical of his working method in which the making process itself – as well as its analysis – become the end result.
In Manufactured Manual, Pelupessy is deconstructing colour and light into the components of CMYK and RGB colour schemes. He has developed his own colour emulsions by adding pigments to transparent silkscreen-printing solutions. The artist applies these self-made emulsions to the silkscreen and exposes it to UV light using a light box. Where the emulsion is exposed to light, it hardens and adheres to the screen – the rest can be washed away with water.
All the silkscreens are built up with multiple exposures and different colours, one over the other. By overlaying the negatives of different images, Pelupessy creates collages. For these new works, he uses found footage from his collection of photography technique books in which photography explains itself. Hands that block out the light, or gradations in light that illustrate a certain shutter speed. The title Manufactured Manual is a direct reference to the archival images taken from the photography manuals. The artist combines these images with contemporary image manipulations used in photoshop such as the clone stamp or brush tools.