Deposition
Deposition
black walnut dye photogram on bedsheet
80 x 39 inches
2014
I was inspired by Rauschenberg’s cyanotypes, the shroud of Turin (possibly the first occurrence of a photograph), and colloquial superstitions around spirit/likeness and shadows/negativity. Darkness often signifies death or the unknown, and to feel a sense of pervading darkness or weight often correlates with depression, fear, and hopelessness. I think this kind of thematic/sensory language speaks to an innately somatic experience of emotional states.
Deposition is a ghost-catching device conceptualized though this kind of abstract reasoning. A shadow is a dark reflection of a person, signifying something unspeakable and hidden. The bedsheet is a metonym for a bed and the state of rest when we are most emotionally receptive and vulnerable. Black walnut hulls produce a photoreactive dye that darkens as it oxidizes. The dyed bedsheet became a setting for a short performance where I invoked sadness’ presence until its negative outline could be seen and left behind.
I laid naked for five hours in a posture determined by an emotional state that I could not escape fully, and meditated on the sensation to make it manifest more potently. I felt a sense of relief afterwards, having created a physical artifact of invisible/wordless pain.