With Polaroid instant films, it’s possible to separate the emulsion from the substrate, place the emulsion on another backing of your choice, and then manipulate the freeform emulsion layer, opening up a whole new world of creative prospects, including creating textures, shifting the colors, and stretching the image.

Workshop lead and 2025 Aurora Project Resident Cali M. Banks has worked with this Polaroid emulsion lift and transfer technique for over a decade. In this single session workshop, Banks will share her years of experience and guide beginner through advanced students through the process of emulsion lifts and transfers using Polaroid film.

For this workshop, participants will need to bring at least 4 Polaroid images to work with that have been shot at least 24 hours prior. The more images participants bring, the better. Banks will have a limited number of extra images to practice with during the workshop, as well. All images must be Polaroid brand — other brands such as Instax will not work. Polaroid i-type, polaroid go, 600 color, 600 black and white, SX-70 color, and SX-70 black and white film will all work with this process.

To fully understand the process, we will start by transferring onto watercolor paper. Once we become comfortable with the process, we can experiment with transferring onto different surfaces. We will have a selection of papers available at the workshop, and participants should feel free to bring other objects and surfaces to transfer to including leaves, shells, canvases, and so on.  

The workshop will also have some materials to manipulate the emulsion with, including paints, inks, stickers, glitter, thread, and needles; participants should also bring additional manipulation tools they may want to experiment with.

Workshop participants will have plenty of time to get hands-on with the process, and the workshop will end with a mini-critique, when students will present their most successful piece.

This process can get messy, so please, don’t bring objects that are irreplaceable or you do not mind potentially getting wet. This workshop is best suited to artists 16 and above; minors must be accompanied by an adult.

Cali M. Banks is a lens-based artist currently based in Syracuse, NY. She holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Media Arts Practices from the University of Colorado Boulder, and a BA in Art and Technology and Global Health Studies from Allegheny College. Banks is the Communications Coordinator for Light Work and is also an Adjunct Professor of Photography, Video Art and Filmmaking for Syracuse University, Pratt Institute's Munson campus, and Indiana University campuses (online). She was a 2024 En Foco Photography Fellow, a 2024 Penumbra Foundation Workspace Resident, and she received the Fall 2024 Visionary Project Award from Film Photo Award. Recently, Banks has exhibited work during Art Basel Miami and Every Woman Biennial London, and other notable venues such as Smack Mellon, RedLine Contemporary Art Center, Tiger Strikes Asteroid Philadelphia, Atlanta Film Festival, and Anthology Film Archives, including a solo exhibition at the Everson Museum of Art. Her work has also been published on Lomography, Lenscratch, and Rolling Stone France.

This workshop was made possible by a generous grant from the Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation.