Slack Tide
Slack Tide is an oceanic term for a period of time between low to high tide when the water is at equilibrium with the force that pulls the tide in and out. The water is calm because it is not being pulled in any direction. The tide is as far out as it will go for the day, revealing the most sand. This short period of time occurs daily at the beach on Isle of Palms, South Carolina, where I took photos for my project.
I was interested in visually engaging in Dialectal Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and its form of mindfulness. In this therapy, mindfulness is having an awareness of the present and allowing each moment to be experienced and then flow out while withholding judgment. I created tactile photographs that function like objects from sand formations on the beach. I used materials that allowed me to be expressive with the surface of the image and emulated the changes the sand naturally endures every day. I was interested in the ideas of acceptance and change, a cornerstone of DBT.
Each object is made on Canson Platine Fiber Rag. All objects include Cyanotype and distressing from water that has lifted the paper's emulsion. Some objects have been made with inkjet printing and household materials that affect the process's pH. The objects have been processed multiple times and are not fully fixed.
(This work also includes text, which is not included online)
Ten Mile River 2013
Lush green, bright yellow, and deep brown paint these woods, called the Ten Mile River Open Space. This is where my brother Tim and I would dream, lay out in the tree house or on the rocks, and imagine our lives someday. On other days, we would go on adventures looking for objects. I imaged the farmers, who used to own the equipment left the woods and horses running free. Tim would find arrowheads and I would imaged Native American battles and hunting. I never ventured deeper into the woods. Some places weren’t always safe, especially down by the Ten Mile River, with abandoned mineshafts and hunting grounds. Tim called this the Wild.
As a young adult, I return to this land and rediscover this place where I grew up. I photograph the woods at night and illuminate the space with flashlights. Visually, this is a negotiation of physical space and my childhood fantasies. My fears and happiness, hopes for a future and reflection of past, curiosity and understanding, are represented in the revealing of this place that was home.
Expired 2012
Kodak, whose founder George Eastman, was a progressive company, whose invention changed the world in photography with its Brownie camera, stating: “You press the button, we do the rest.” It also manufactured different films and papers, both in color and black and white. Rochester, New York, was its hometown, where the stately mansion of its owner is now an international historical museum named The George Eastman House. It is a reminder of the success of Kodak, housing a permanent collection of thousands of photographs, cameras, books, a wealth of information and treasures. The combination of the global economic crisis with the ever-present digital has recently forced Kodak to file for Chapter 11, declaring bankruptcy, closing its factories and selling all its patents at auction. It signals the end of a manufacturing giant, an insurmountable loss to a world-wide creative and technical community of professionals and amateurs; all ages, men and women.
Shortly after Kodak went bankrupt, I found an old box of 8x10 Kodak Fiber that expired on February 1, 1944. This installation is made with 68 sheets of 8x10 paper, each representing one year past the expiration date. The first paper in the series was exposed to sunlight for 68 minutes, and the subsequent images in the sequence were exposed for one minute less.
Trail Camera 2012
This project includes videos and still images collaborating with my dad, who uses the camera to understand animal activity in the woods. It branched off from the Ten Mile River project that I had been working on at the same time. It was staged in the back woods where I grew up and, like Ten Mile River, included my dad’s relationship with the space and camera use.