THE MIGRATION OF SILVER

Tactile yet indefinable forms swim across the surface of the paper. Some have a faint sheen to them, like prisms, reflecting the quantum nature of light itself. Others have layers of subtle color, with a ghostly sense of depth. The images hover between painting and photography, deliberately drawn elements and unknowable results. My gestures collaborate with the light and time to create the physical changes in the silver. There is no reference to reality, no eidetic instant frozen on a piece of film. Yet I am very aware of the moment, of this reality, waiting and responding to the ongoing alchemical reactions. There is an element of chance, of controlled chaos, of embracing change. The work is an attempt to transform an articulated place into a more nebulous space – the place of the darkroom, the mental and physical space that I occupy, and the transformation of that experience into an object that holds the residue of the light and silver.

Note on the process: Each image is a unique, camera-less, lens-less chemical painting using traditional black and white darkroom chemistry and the chromoskedasic sabatier process on silver gelatin or chromogenic paper.

The work would not have evolved without the generous gifts of my photographic friends: Lindsey Beal, Caleb Cole, Bill Franson, Lauren Pascarella and Ron Cowie!