Hawai‘i National Parks 2016 Centennial Juried Exhibition   |  Aug 30 - Nov 06, 2016
Jurors: Jay Jensen, curator of contemporary art at Honolulu Museum of Art, and Nalani Kanaka‘ole, artist, kumu hula and cultural consultant.   

 

A walk in the Park: Reimagining Native Ferns

2016
photograms (platinum, palladium, kallitype, mixed metals), wood, ink

90 x 72 x 1.25 inches

A river of fire,  a curtain of ash reveals the birth and growth of our planet and our islands. Preserving memories: a present that unveils the past , a refuge for animals and plants.

In 1843, Ana Atkins published the first book to be illustrated with photograms of botanical specimens. When her book was produced, this camera-less photographic technique seemed to offer magical evidence of the material presence of objects not present.
As I seek to honor the century of footprints that traverse this park, photograms seem the most appropriate. 

I traffic in opposites – black and white, shadow and light, movement and stillness, three dimensions converted into two, the “magical presence” of an object and its absence.