Chemigrams

   Chemigrams are a form of experimental art, wherein a photograph is created by painting onto photosensitive paper. Chemigrams are traditionally done with oils, creams, and paint. For this series, I chose natural objects to support the seemingly antithetical connection of a refined art form coalescing with unadulterated nature. My process for this series utilized natural objects I found in my garden: an oak leaf become a brush, a vine of cats-claw became a crown. I soaked this newly constructed crown in developer and knighted the paper as royalty, watching as it formed a ringlet of nobility.

   Leaves became finger prints. They marked their codices onto a formula antithetical to their origin. Nature thrives upon the sunlight. Photosensitive paper, however, waits within the darkness to be defined. In the darkness Identity is never found. Once exposed, the paper is forced to define itself via its relationship with its subject; subsequently, we see the battle of identity. Within these images we witness the interplay of darkness, light, nature, and man’s constant revisionist authority over all of the aforementioned.