"Sherwood" (2020), 36x9", Cyanotype, sea water, and sand on paper
"Ocean City" (2020), 36x9", Cyanotype, sea water, and sand on paper
In 2019 I rekindled my love of nature and the pastoral scene, which marked the beginning of my reintroduction to Romanticism, looking at its cultural effects and exploring how it has changed its form going into the 21st century. Just as my Memories series “documented the Romance of my ever changing surroundings,” this series of Voyages explores my return to the sea, another world entangled in Romance and the mystery, violence, and social change in its wake. To this overarching project I have given the name Salacia, after the Roman sea goddess and wife of Neptune, who hid herself in the Atlantic Ocean following the god's suit. Neptune sent the creatures of the deep to search for her and entreat her to marry him, and eventually the dolphin succeeded in convincing Salacia to return. The sea, like the land, has been a companion and victim of Euro-centric conquest, exploration, and violence, both on a social and environmental scale. Like Neptune, I search for Salacia, the essence and spirit of the oceans, but not for marriage or conquest, rather to learn from its bountiful wisdom and the stories enfolded in the watery fathoms.
The Voyages started during a small social distancing trip to a remote beach in Connecticut, shying away from other humans and instead trying to focus on the waters. I moved back and forth between land and sea, dancing in and out of the waves to capture the movements of the tides before rushing to bury my new photographic treasures in the sand. Each of these photographs is a collaboration with the sea, untameable, beautiful, and demanding that I work in time with its movements. This series bridges the gap between two realms, land and sea, fostering a sense of exploration and revealing the interactions between myself and the ocean, two living beings caught up in a dance, back and forth, under the summer sun.
The Voyages started during a small social distancing trip to a remote beach in Connecticut, shying away from other humans and instead trying to focus on the waters. I moved back and forth between land and sea, dancing in and out of the waves to capture the movements of the tides before rushing to bury my new photographic treasures in the sand. Each of these photographs is a collaboration with the sea, untameable, beautiful, and demanding that I work in time with its movements. This series bridges the gap between two realms, land and sea, fostering a sense of exploration and revealing the interactions between myself and the ocean, two living beings caught up in a dance, back and forth, under the summer sun.
