2015
varying digital formats, varying photographic prints, varying installations
Variants is a multi-volume, image-based project that delves into the omnipresence and endless transformation of digital imagery. Presented in various digital formats, photographic prints, and installations, the project examines the fluid nature of digital images and their capacity for infinite modification. Utilizing a range of software and hardware, Travis manually captures, scans, prints, manipulates, and re-photographs each image, subjecting it to a cycle of alterations that erode any sense of an “original.” Through these recursive processes, Variants reflects on the nature of digital media as inherently malleable and inexhaustible.
The physical installations of each volume serve as indexical representations of digital material, embodying the mutable and transient qualities that define contemporary visual culture. In an era where images are continuously extracted, archived, and repurposed across vast digital networks, Variants considers how the sheer accumulation and circulation of imagery can strip context and meaning, turning once-distinct visual records into raw material for endless recombination. Each iteration is both an archive and an erasure, capturing the instability of images as they shift, fragment, and multiply beyond their original intent.
By charting these transformations, Variants raises questions about the consequences of relentless reproduction and reuse, not only in terms of authenticity and permanence but also in how images are abstracted into broader infrastructures of visibility and control. The work invites viewers to reflect on the implications of living within an ecosystem where images—once personal or contextual—are increasingly absorbed into an expanding, impersonal stream of visual data, detached from their origins and open to infinite reclassification.
varying digital formats, varying photographic prints, varying installations
Variants is a multi-volume, image-based project that delves into the omnipresence and endless transformation of digital imagery. Presented in various digital formats, photographic prints, and installations, the project examines the fluid nature of digital images and their capacity for infinite modification. Utilizing a range of software and hardware, Travis manually captures, scans, prints, manipulates, and re-photographs each image, subjecting it to a cycle of alterations that erode any sense of an “original.” Through these recursive processes, Variants reflects on the nature of digital media as inherently malleable and inexhaustible.
The physical installations of each volume serve as indexical representations of digital material, embodying the mutable and transient qualities that define contemporary visual culture. In an era where images are continuously extracted, archived, and repurposed across vast digital networks, Variants considers how the sheer accumulation and circulation of imagery can strip context and meaning, turning once-distinct visual records into raw material for endless recombination. Each iteration is both an archive and an erasure, capturing the instability of images as they shift, fragment, and multiply beyond their original intent.
By charting these transformations, Variants raises questions about the consequences of relentless reproduction and reuse, not only in terms of authenticity and permanence but also in how images are abstracted into broader infrastructures of visibility and control. The work invites viewers to reflect on the implications of living within an ecosystem where images—once personal or contextual—are increasingly absorbed into an expanding, impersonal stream of visual data, detached from their origins and open to infinite reclassification.
Variants Vol. I
32 variations
Variants Vol. II
16 of 176 variations
Variants Vol. III
21 of 100+ variations
Variants Vol. IV
21 of 80+ variations