Site Specific is a collection of planned and spontaneous cyanotypes inspired by my first travels to Ireland in 2022. I had come with the intention to explore the traditional lacework and textile designs in the local windows, being curious about any connection between island tradition of incorporating specific motifs in knitting and lacemaking and that of other nautical traditions of identifying loved ones whose sweaters would hold the key to identifying any body perhaps lost at sea, should they wash ashore not to mention sigils and symbols of protection and safe return.
As it is with many projects planned ahead of variables unknown, the wealth of fascination I found in the curtains and lace was just one of the many threads that connected the sea with the lives and livings of those on shore. I could not have anticipated the impact of walking among what must have been a tremendous weight of nets, bouys floaters and cages, all knotted, knitted and tied into nets to draw from the sea or the anchor one from being drawn out with the tides.
I found that by letting myself explore without a goal, to experience this place allowed me to discover for myself some of the special places
series of images that I’ve continued to work on since first traveling to Dingle, Ireland - the Western-most point of the Isle - and created a set of site specific cyanotypes using found natural materials on the Atlantic shoreline. The chemistry involved with each item placed on the sensitized paper, crab, jellyfish, kelp and the mist that constantly falls from the sky during that season imprints via the clouded sunlight. These prints are then washed (developed) in the tides and then dried and preserved for the travels home. The next year (2023) I stayed at an inn on the Pacific side of the shoreline in Yachats Bay, Oregon and used found items along the shoreline to create a new set of prints, rinsed and developed in the incoming tides and soon to be arranged in a collection of samples from that Summer’s explorations.