Amin Yousefi, 24 october 2025
Andy Mattern’s ongoing project began with an accidental discovery. On the backs of neglected photographs, faint “ghost” images had emerged, unintentional transfers created through a slow chemical reaction between platinum prints and paper. When the conditions align over decades, the original photograph imprints a mirror image onto the surface beneath it.
Mattern approaches these imprints as both evidence and material. What was once incidental becomes the foundation for a new body of work. He gives these unintended portraits a renewed presence by rephotographing and printing the apparitions with hand-coated platinum. The process is as much about observation as it is about making.
The resulting works reveal layered and unpredictable compositions. Ghosts intersect with text, overlap with graphics, and occupy the page in ways no deliberate gesture could fully control. For Mattern, the project reflects photography’s capacity to persist and reproduce without human direction. What began as a technical curiosity has evolved into a sustained inquiry into the afterlife of photographic images.
Andy Mattern is a visual artist working in the expanded field of photography. His photographs and installations dissect the medium itself, reconfiguring expectations of photography’s basic ingredients and conventions.
