Nowhere To Be Found, 2019
Nowhere To Be Found, 2019 | Paper-lithography on 99 panels/rag mat | 62 x 62"
This piece involved re-photographing photographs of glaciers that I took afield in Alaska and British Columbia. The images were then spliced into 99 units and output as xerox images. I then used the xeroxes as my printing plates using a paper-lithography process where gum arabic/water is sponged on to the surface while rolling out oil-based ink. The xerox toner acts like a stone-litho surface and the gum arabic/water/ink combination either repels or attracts to the image on the plate. In the process of printing the image, the plate becomes so saturated with water that once under pressure it rips and essentially dissolves apart, leaving only the printed impression as an echo of what it was. Knowing this would happen, I wanted my process to be consistent with the disappearance of what’s being represented. As the glaciers retreat and disappear, so too does the thing that is capable of creating their documented existence.
This piece became as much an experiment in memory of place as it is a process of creating an image. I haven't been to either of the depicted locations since 2004 and 2007, so my photo-documentation of their forms are from very specific periods of time - how much has changed since? What new land has been exposed, and how much further has the ice retreated? In making Nowhere To Be Found, I wanted to step in between the representation of "then" with something being made in the present. Since each individual plate is hand-printed one at a time using a paper-based matrix, other artifacts and occurrences from the process are translated over into the print: folds and creases from the wet plate are printed flat onto the panels; sponge marks from wetting and wiping away ink scum; even occasional marks from the brayer that is used to roll up the ink. The result is as much a document of translating the image as it is echoing the original representation of the landscapes.
This piece involved re-photographing photographs of glaciers that I took afield in Alaska and British Columbia. The images were then spliced into 99 units and output as xerox images. I then used the xeroxes as my printing plates using a paper-lithography process where gum arabic/water is sponged on to the surface while rolling out oil-based ink. The xerox toner acts like a stone-litho surface and the gum arabic/water/ink combination either repels or attracts to the image on the plate. In the process of printing the image, the plate becomes so saturated with water that once under pressure it rips and essentially dissolves apart, leaving only the printed impression as an echo of what it was. Knowing this would happen, I wanted my process to be consistent with the disappearance of what’s being represented. As the glaciers retreat and disappear, so too does the thing that is capable of creating their documented existence.
This piece became as much an experiment in memory of place as it is a process of creating an image. I haven't been to either of the depicted locations since 2004 and 2007, so my photo-documentation of their forms are from very specific periods of time - how much has changed since? What new land has been exposed, and how much further has the ice retreated? In making Nowhere To Be Found, I wanted to step in between the representation of "then" with something being made in the present. Since each individual plate is hand-printed one at a time using a paper-based matrix, other artifacts and occurrences from the process are translated over into the print: folds and creases from the wet plate are printed flat onto the panels; sponge marks from wetting and wiping away ink scum; even occasional marks from the brayer that is used to roll up the ink. The result is as much a document of translating the image as it is echoing the original representation of the landscapes.