Artist Statement
My art practice is guided by these four primary interests: (1) the relationship between cameraless photography and abstract painting, (2) the history of abstraction and its relationship to ritual practices, (3) the egregore, a concept from several esoteric traditions, of a thoughtform born out of a group’s collective subconscious that produces an autonomous entity, such as a mythological god or a religious deity, but this can also relate to more contemporary ideas like subcultures, cultural codes, and memes, and (4) an exploration of the question: can a queer gaze be embedded into a non-objective image, or conversely, can an abstract image be inherently queer?
Through the process of this exploration, I use cyanotype emulsion as a photoreactive dye on various textiles. These now light sensitive textiles are then placed within an environment to interact with its surroundings. Then over many hours, they are left to slowly expose an image under the shifting ambient sunlight to create a unique distillation of that particular time and place.
For instance, with some works, I’ll go outside and wrap and weave the cyanotype treated textiles into various plants and then leave them there to expose an image over an extended amount of time. There are other works where I’m covering and draping a window with the cyanotype treated textiles (i.e.: the "untitled" series) and again leaving them there for an extended amount of time to create an impression of the liminal space a window inhabits.
Another process is going out into an environment, taking photos with my phone, and then making paper negatives from these images. These paper negatives are then placed into a grid of nine to imply a window and then contact printed onto the cyanotype treated textiles while also manipulating the fabric during the printing process.
Some of the resulting works are then presented as tapestries, banners, or flags. While others are then further clothed, skinned, or shrouded with additional layers of manipulated textiles into the form of stretched and wrapped layered paintings. The end result are works that blur between objects and images that merge the elements of photography, painting, textile collage, and sculpture.