Personal Works
Platinum/Palladium Prints
These works were created with the Malde-Ware method for platinum/palladium contact printing. To quote Professor Malde, “Platinum/palladium prints are renown for their persistent shadows and nuanced highlight values, for having a distinctive appearance, and perhaps most famously, for being the most permanent of photographic printing methods.” In this method the paper is coated with 1:1 platinum/palladium solution and with the negative resting directly on top of the paper, the print is exposed to UV light for set amounts of time to produce the final exposure. After, the prints are processed with a series of clearing agents, finally washed in water, and left to dry. Documentation is a key part of this development process. Everything from the exact mixtures of solutions used to the humidity and temperature of the room at time of printing is recorded in order to best facilitate replication of prints. Each of these prints was a labor of love, with numerous variations and many hours experimentation manifesting in the prints shown here.
Collected Digital Works
These are a collection of some of my favorite images over the past six years that resonate with the ideas I am exploring through XR development. The process for these images is mostly straight forward, with a deliberate emphasis on capturing as much through the lens as possible and minimal retouching. This is what makes them so captivating as they play with the viewer’s perspective, making use of strong leading lines and architectural elements, to create depth and draw the viewer in as they try to make sense of converging planes, reflections, and ambiguous vanishing points. This results in viewers feeling lost in the work, but by continuing to stay open to that feeling they can become fully immersed in the images. This echoes my feelings surrounding virtual and augmented reality experiences. In order to fully engage with a new reality, one has to let go of the old. However, it’s important to note natural elements that remain a persistent theme in this series. Natural beauty is always in balance, with intricate,delicate forms in harmony with strong shapes and colors. Our connection to the natural world is ultimately what grounds us and no matter how deep we lose ourselves in new worlds, we must always cherish and protect that connection.
Pen and Ink Drawings
This piece was created as the result of an exercise to combine 6 randomly assigned elements into a single work with an accompanying short story. The story follows a young woman who discovers the unfaithfulness of her partner, and her intense sorrow manifests as a great flood that sweeps through the town where she lives. As she is about to be carried away by the currents of her sadness, her pet penguin desperately struggles to rescue her from her fate.
With this piece I sought to combine different studies of crows into one composition to create a harsh, confusing landscape, but still hold onto the hope of escape. While that hope still remains, it is not without a price, and means leaving a part of oneself behind as well. This came at a time when I was first starting to explore who I was and though my environment at the time was by no means very harsh, I was struggling decide what I was ready to let go of and what I wanted to become.