The Past is Ever Present
"The Past is Ever Present" explores the use of cyanotypes, an alternative photographic process. The images created through the performance process are imprinted with lace patterns found in the windows and entrances to the homes in Galatina, Italy.
This new photographic, performative and textile-based work explores, through lace ornamentation, domestic roles, invisible labor, matriarchal lineage, and public/private expressions of self – the saintly, the erotic, the ornamental or mysterious.
Textiles have the ability to create tangible expressions of ephemeral experiences and encapsulate a specific time and place. They also, naturally, often speak to the feminine or domestic realm.
Textiles have featured throughout my work. Most notably, in my photographic series, “At the Hour of Our Death”, I documented sheets, pillows and floor coverings imbued with the passing of human life. Most recently, in “Vigil got the 21,” I modified red mylar emergency blankets into American flags, serving as a thin veil of protection against gun violence.
In processing the cyanotypes, I meditatively count silently in my head for eight minutes, allowing each piece to develop in the sun, and thus creating a unique record of time, place, and my silhouette. The process and resulting unique works embody remnants of a past life or journey, both private and public. A map, revealing my journey and yet obscuring the details at the same time.
I am interested in exploring, through the repetitive and ritualistic process of making/printing, washing, and hanging, to reveal unique patterns and the residue of what remains.
