The world felt like it was shredding. As if it was being torn apart by all of the nuanced effects of the ongoing pandemic, with civil unrest, with a tumultuous political arena, and a failing climate. These day-to-day shifts and changes were unfolding in a moments time, and deconstructing the social fabric of society. Frankly, they still are. It is hard to see through this chaos, but chaos can sometimes be the needed catalyst for change. Trusting that there are better ways to arrange our social structures is ultimately an investment in hope, and this piece is a reminder of that hope.
As with many artists, I found I was searching for ways to express the very complicated emotions I was feeling about everything that was happening during the spring and summer of 2020. Without access to my studio space because of state mandates, I leaned on my arsenal of alternative photo processes to satisfy my need to still create. Though the working limitations at the time presented a challenge, Cyanotype printing was something I could easily do from my home and without much equipment. Cyanotypes are an alternative photographic process that uses the sunlight to expose images onto sensitized paper or cloth. Utilizing different toning practices throughout the process, typically beholden on how I was feeling on that particular day, each image was composed, processed, and then hand torn.
Each image was made on fabric and developed in old baking trays at home during quarantine. The process kept my mind and hands busy. Each day I would create negatives, collect things from around the house, or use found objects and bits of nature as compositional elements for the prints I was making. After being exposed in the sun on the porch, each splice of fabric would finish the development process in the baking trays. They would then be hung or set to dry. Once dried completely, I would then shred them by hand. These pieces of shredded prints created the individual pieces for BLUE.
