Kilborn Acme Kruxo, exact expiration date unknown, ca. 1940, processed 2009

The unprocessed sheets of photographic paper in Alison Rossiter's series are "expired" in the sense that they are no longer serviceable for standard printing; the term "expiration" also suggests the passing of wet darkroom processes, which have given way to digital printing. Some sheets, when placed in the developer bath, showed patterns caused by mold, earlier handling, or minute amounts of light. Others had been so damaged through inadvertent previous exposure that they would have turned completely black. In those cases, Rossiter did not submerge the sheets but instead poured developer over a part of the surface and fixed the results. The series hints at a history of photography that depends not on "style" or individual creative acts but on manufacturing: here, a small firm in Cedar Rapids named Kilborn, that offered a range of products labeled "Kruxo" beginning in 1895. The firm now makes inkjet paper for digital printers.