Medium: Prints
With the exception of Pastel Photographic Monoprints, the photo printmaking processes I employ date back to the invention of photography in the mid-nineteenth century and were popular with professional photographers such as Edward Steichen and Julia Margaret Cameron, at the turn of the twentieth century. Light-sensitive chemicals are mixed with water in subdued light and coated onto a sheet of 100% rag (archival) paper. Black and white negatives I shot are placed in contact with the coating, and this set-up is exposed to ultraviolet light. The paper is developed so that unused chemicals—those blocked from light by the dark areas of the negative—are washed off, yielding a positive image the same size as the negative.
For Pastel Photographic Monoprints, I take photos that I inkjet print as large black and white images. Then I apply chalky pastels over the photos. Words are culled from my personal journal pages, which record dreams, observations and poems.
