The Silver Wash

The cold open

Under the deep crimson glow of safelights on the fourth floor of the St. Jude Arts Loft, the smell of acetic acid and running water hangs thick in the midnight air. Master printer Osmond Croy floats face-down in the forty-gallon stainless steel archival wash trough, his lungs logged with cold rinse water and fixing salts. A five-thousand-dollar exhibition print drifts beside him in the circulating current like a waterlogged ghost.

The victim

Osmond Croy, 57, master darkroom printer and gallery proprietor

The lineup

• Valerie Fenn
• Jonas Whitlock
• Noemi Pacheco
• Torin Dahl