chemical amnesia
Polaroid film, chalk, moss, epoxy resin
14 x 20 in
2019-2021
The photograph has been a longstanding staple in history to capture moments for future recollections and has often been a way to capture feelings and emotions that are felt in the moment the photo was taken.
Destruction, manipulation and abstraction, are threads that move throughout all of my work. My most recent work utilizes the Polaroid, inviting the viewer to consider memories which I have abstracted, and memories I have manufactured. I manipulate the chemical process in the development of the Polaroid in an effort to intersect and infect the space between human memory and machine capability. Post-development, I use harsher means against the photograph such as chemicals, abrasives and sometimes fire.
Through the altering of photographs, I have found that I am able to not only create new photographs, but also restructure my memories and produce fictional memories. It is through this process of abstracting memory that I am able to find belonging in these spaces I once avoided, or invite a space I have imagined.