Elemental Forms, Mediations on an Island explores the shape, substance and meaning of an object through repetition. Each piece consists of a base collodion photogram and strips of separate panels that have been cut, bent and secured to the main composition, creating a three-dimensional object.

The sculptural collodion prints use a repeating silhouetted shape reminiscent of an island and rely on artifacts and the positioning of cut panels to create mood variations: changes in atmospheric conditions, light, seasons, etc. Perhaps the impulse to meditate on an object has less to do with an obsession, and more with a search for meaning through sustained attention. Perhaps the act of observing intently produces an alchemical moment when sight transcends physical form, when matter returns to spirit.

My experience with observing and connecting with a geological form over an extended period and its subsequent rendering as collodion photogram variations is connected to these questions: What happens when the object loses the coordinates of meaning imparted by history?; When the constraints imposed by language and social conditioning dissolve and perception returns to original sight?; When the island becomes simply a nameless object that is being witnessed, truly seen, for the first time? Perhaps this is how the landscape, the world, returns to the original substance of pure potential. Perhaps this is how new landscapes, new possibilities are envisioned and claimed.