Artist Statement

My work focuses on the act of experimentation within photography by experimenting with the fragile surface of film emulsion through film souping and bringing images to life within cyanotypes and phytograms. Experimenting in photography breaks the once strict rules of the darkroom; rules that you could not break or else your image would be considered ruined. In my practice, I embrace breaking those rules by creating my own.

With film souping, I manipulate the chemical make-up of photographic film by using “recipes” that cause the dye layers of the film to break up and blend together, creating a beautiful “soup” of colour, textures and shapes. Through experimentation with different recipes, I am able to propel each frame further into the unknown. With cyanotypes and phytograms, I focus on objects and their shadows to tell stories and preserve their memories in an original way. These experimental processes allow me to simulate memory manipulation, stemming from the passage of time, or from biological reasons such as cognitive disabilities.

Experimenting with photographic processes reflects my fascination with the malleability of images, emphasizing that memory is not static, but rather constantly evolving, leading it to be subject to interpretation. By manipulating and reconstructing images through film, I create a visual dialogue that challenges the traditional notion of capturing and documenting reality. By purposefully blurring the camera’s lens, I have only the slightest idea of what will develop, leading each step of my practice to be experimental. I constantly experiment and change my processes to enhance my release of control on a once linear process, and through this I hope to invite the viewer to experience my work and question the role of photography in constructing and preserving memory. Society heavily relies on physical and digital documentation to preserve memory; however documentation isn’t as reliable as we think, just as our memories are not reliable either.