Skotograph—a combination of the Greek words for “darkness” and “writing” was introduced by the British Society for Psychical Research in the 1880s to describe images produced by spirits on otherwise unexposed photographic materials. These abstract cameraless images functioned as evidence emerging from the intersection of belief in the paranormal and belief in technology’s ability to permit access beyond human capability.
Through the adoption of this term I situate myself squarely in the tradition of spirit photographers of the 19th and early 20th centuries—a period during which photography was just one of numerous scientific processes introduced that created images of spaces and phenomena that were previously invisible to humans, and opening up the possibilities of connecting with new worlds by way of technological devices.