Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer

Chris McCaw tests the scientific limits of photography while exploring the concepts of time, exposure, and solar power with his body of work from the Sunburn series. For Sunburned GSP#874 (Mojave), 2015, McCaw used a self-built 20 x 24” camera with a military grade camera lens to capture the light of the sun as it burned directly into the media held in the film plane. In this work, the artist uses vintage fiber based photographic paper instead of film. The process is the same as burning a leaf with a magnifying glass, but here, the camera lens acts as the magnifying glass. McCaw’s photographs are made with long exposures and the captured image shows an arc over the horizon, the physical path of the sun made from the earth’s rotation. After an exposure lasting several hours, the sun’s path or burn pattern is literally scorched into the vintage paper (often emitting smoke) to create a one of a kind photographic print.

Display Status

This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.

Object Details
Type ART-Photographic Art Medium Gelatin Silver Paper Negative, Chris McCaw Artist Chris McCaw
Physical Description Direct black and white time-lapse exposure of the sun over hills. Grey sky, darker hills, very dark to black track of the sun. The light has actually burned holes into the sun's path in multiple spots. Black border from frame holding paper during exposure. Unframed, unglazed. Reported to be marked on reverse with artist and title, but is adhered to backing for transport and not removed for cataloging. Dimensions 2-D - Unframed (H x W): 60.5 × 51cm (1 ft. 11 13/16 in. × 1 ft. 8 1/16 in.)
2-D - In Frame (H x W x D): 82.5 × 72.7 × 2.2cm (2 ft. 8 1/2 in. × 2 ft. 4 5/8 in. × 7/8 in.)
Inventory Number A20200169000 Credit Line Gift of Chris McCaw and Yossi Milo Gallery, New York Data Source National Air and Space Museum Restrictions & Rights Usage conditions apply
For more information, visit the Smithsonians Terms of Use.