Gestures (2015 – present)
“Gesture #26″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 10″ x 8”; 2023
“Gesture #25″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 10″ x 8”; 2021
“Gesture #24″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 14″ x 11”; 2019
“Gesture #22″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 14″ x 11”; 2019
“Gesture #21″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 14″ x 11”; 2019
“Gesture #20″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 14″ x 11”; 2019
“Point / Counterpoint II”; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 20″ x 16″; 2018
“Point / Counterpoint I”; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 20″ x 16″; 2018
“Gesture 19″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 10″ x 8”; 2018
“Gesture 18″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 10″ x 8”; 2018
“Gesture 17″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 10″ x 8”; 2017
“Gesture 16″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 10″ x 8”; 2017
“Gesture 15″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 10″ x 8”; 2017
“Gesture 14″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 14″ x 11”; 2016
“Gesture 10″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 8″ x 10”; 2016
“Gesture 9″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 8″ x 10”; 2015
“Gesture 8″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 14″ x 11”; 2015
“Gesture #7″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 11″ x 7”; 2015
“Gesture #6″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 10″ x 8”; 2015
“Gesture #5″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 11″ x 7”; 2015
“Gesture #4″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 11″ x 7”; 2015
“Gesture #3″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 11″ x 7”; 2015
“Gesture #2″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 10″ x 8”; 2015
“Gesture #1″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigram; 11″ x 7”; 2015
“Out of Context”; Silver gelatin photographic chemigrams, nails; 20.5″ x 25″ x 1″; 2015
“Out of Context” (detail 1); Silver gelatin photographic chemigrams, nails; 20.5″ x 25″ x 1″; 2015
“Message #1″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigrams, nails; 10.5″ x 22″ x 1”; 2015
“Message #1″ (detail 1); Silver gelatin photographic chemigrams, nails; 10.5″ x 22″ x 1”; 2015
“Loud and Clear”; Silver gelatin photographic chemigrams, nails; 84.5″ x 31″ x 1″; 2015
“Loud and Clear” (detail 1); Silver gelatin photographic chemigrams, nails; 84.5″ x 31″ x 1″; 2015
“Free Thought”; Silver gelatin photographic chemigrams; 10″ x 25″; 2015
“Disjointed Diptych #1″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigrams; 10″ x 16.5”; 2019
“Contiguous Diptych #5″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigrams; 10″ x 16.5”; 2015
“Contiguous Diptych #4″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigrams; 10″ x 16.5”; 2015
“Contiguous Diptych #3″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigrams; 10″ x 16.5”; 2015
“Contiguous Diptych #1″; Silver gelatin photographic chemigrams; 10″ x 16.5”; 2015
After my first few years of studying photography in the late 1990’s, I began to shy away from the darkroom. Silver gelatin prints were the standard in the photographic world, and quickly becoming unsatisfying to me. I wished to see the physical mark in my work, and to create objects. Photography as I knew it felt mass-produced and devoid of this materiality. When visiting art museums, I was drawn to paintings more than anything – to see the actual brushstrokes in person and meditate on how each one was put in place by the artist’s own hand. Even in those early days of the Internet, I understood the significance of witnessing a physical artwork in three dimensions, of being in its presence.
Once digital photography became the standard, the darkroom lured me back, as the tables had turned and a silver gelatin print presented itself to me as an object. Chemigrams became a natural progression for me to explore photographic paper as a physical medium unto itself, rather than simply the substrate upon which an image taken from the outside world rests. The application of a resist on silver gelatin paper, and my instinctual and immediate gestures created on the paper, satisfies the missing mark of the artist that I had found to be lacking in photography. As society has evolved in over 20 years through the growth of the online world and a pandemic, I find the process satisfies even more than that one concern of that young artist.
This gestural work addresses unease with the negative effects of American society’s increasingly digitized existence. I witness younger generations who have challenges with basic mechanical tasks that I take for granted. I see less awareness of and respect for physical space when interacting with strangers in public. Even as education can adapt to online offerings and offer positive outcomes, I grow apprehensive as many artmaking mediums are frequently tied to equipment and facilities that are being eliminated. By making direct marks on light-sensitive photographic materials, a medium in which the physical piece of paper is often ignored, I call for a reconnection to materiality and in-person interaction. My gestures reflect various mental states as I contemplate these issues, from quiet and content to frustrated and loud. Their ambiguous resemblance to letterforms references the difficulty of communicating such a pervasive societal matter. The chemigram process itself, with its endless variables and lack of controlled outcomes, celebrates the rare sense of mystery and awe that our constantly digitally-connected world robs from us, fueling an epidemic of anxiety.