Treatment: Digital Prints

Artist Statement

My work examines the transitory states of people and objects as they relate to the collapse and failure of systems, chaos, and the element of chance. The conflation of order and disorder, often in regards to the human body, is a significant theme in my practice, and my projects linger in the liminal space between the extremes of creation and destruction.

In the series Treatment, I metaphorically treat unexposed photographic film as if it is itself a body in need of care by combining it directly with various medicines and healing processes. Some of the substances to which the film/body is subjected include infrared heat therapy, antibiotics, and sodium fluoride. The work involves no light or camera, but rather alchemy and the physical endurance of the film/body; I court chance in this highly unpredictable process. The ambiguous images are representative of a moment of transformation, both restorative and often paradoxically violent, potentially present in a body subjected to treatment within the context of modern medicine. The film is ruined to bring the images to life.