"Greetings, my friend. We are all interested in the future - for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives."

" Oneironaut" installation. © Louise K. Wilson

Permitted Paths
The painter had been working steadily for some time now. The time to make a call on interim completion was pretty close. Nearly time to call a halt for the day, to return later with fresher eyes. Strictly speaking, the layering of paints was unorthodox. Scraping back the topmost layers, the texture slid strangely between the ground and the topcoat.In the basement, the photographer checked the proportion of the developer mixture and slid the thermometer into the water. An adjustment to the expected development time, and the pouring began, steady and unhurried.

They checked the surface of the canvas and of the development tray. The material seemed to stiffen, not quite inert but not responding in the usual manner. Suddenly time ceased: the painted surface became a glassy sheet, unresponsive, neither absorbing pigment or capable of change. The developer mixture solidified, the process stopped dead, the negatives trapped as if under a vitreous enamel.

The painter threw the brushes down and peered intently at the now-alienated surface.The photographer turned the darkroom light on and stared in puzzlement at a solarized square on the surface of the film. As the plates slowly blackened, an enigmatic sentence could be read, fading rapidly with the fugitive silver :