negatives ablaze

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He’s not protesting, or even erasing the evidence: Photographer Peter Hoffman burns film negatives to make an environmental statement. After the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010, Peter Hoffman started thinking about ways to incorporate oil and water in his photography practice. “These substances are symbolic,” he tells Co.Design. “Water means things like purity, healing, nourishment. Oil, to me, is reminiscent of destruction, consumption and greed.”

The result is Fox River Derivatives, a series of images on film shot near his home in suburban Chicago. After capturing classic landscape photos of the river, Hoffman doused the developed negatives with gas and ignited them. The iridescent, abstracted images distort the landscapes and create a hallucinatory effect.
The irony of making an environmental statement using consumer products and pollutants is not lost on Hoffman: “In a sense I feel helpless,” he says. “I created toxic smoke in transforming the negatives. I consumed both petroleum and water in making the prints. The prints are for sale; they are a commodity, because I need to pay my rent…they are part of the cycle of consumerism.”
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hoffmann-6-9702[via Co.Design]

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Tom Foerstel : Founder & President

Tom Foerstel

Founder & President

Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 60’s, Tom developed a strong desire to create positive change for people and planet.

He went on to pursue his passion for art and design at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, and worked for design firms in Southern California before moving to Boise, Idaho in the early 80’s. Foerstel Design opened its doors in 1985. Since its inception, the firm has cultivated a bold, happy, forward-looking team focussed on creating distinct and effective work on behalf of their clients.

An integral part of Tom’s philosophy is giving back to the community in which he lives — a company cornerstone that drives Foerstel’s long history of providing pro-bono services to local non-profit humanitarian and arts programs.

One of Tom’s proudest personal achievements is his ability to say Supercalifragilisticexpyalidocious backwards.