11th Annual Juried Exhibition at THE MORGAN PAPER CONSERVATORY

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11th Annual Juried Exhibition at THE MORGAN PAPER CONSERVATORY ~

And because I am happy and dance and sing,

They think they have done me no injury

William Blake

They think they have done me no injury consists of self portraits bound as a scroll in the interior of a long strip of handmade paper.

Photographs expose moments of transformation that split, rejoin and change following a domino effect allowed by the dragon scale binding structure. As life flows and events unravel and overlap, so the images swirl, ripple and reposition creating new renderings and meanings. The repetition of format against the disparity of content reveals a narrative that is at once unified and fragmented.

Each photograph floats on the translucency, delicacy and strength of the mulberry paper (washi). A coarser handmade cotton paper encloses the assemblage. The book is housed in a box made of felted mulberry paper (joomchi).

Title: They think they have done me no injury

Text: William Blake

Binding: Dragon scale scroll binding.

Size: Height 8 inches, Diameter 7 inches.

Techniques: Photography, letterpress, joomchi.

Papers: hanji by the author, cotton paper by Andrea Peterson, washi by Awagami factory.

Year of completion: 2022

edition of 5 + 1 deluxe edition.

Through constructing imagery that oscillates from vulnerability to theatrical staging, I explore the bond between harm and resilience. Some images depict my body in domestic interiors or out in the forest performing unclear tasks whilst others display the complete absence of my physical self.

Each image making begins as a cathartic performance from which I emerge liberated and healed. The resulting image crosses the performative experience with the actual making of a photograph. The camera is not my silent witness but an active collaborator that transforms the staging.

Regardless of how personal the starting point of my work may be, in the end the narratives are inconclusive making them feasible of appropriation by the collectively experienced history. In this way my work disrupts dominant ideas of power and impunity whilst simultaneously vindicates the right to grieve.

In the collection of:

Savannah College of Art Design (SCAD)
University of Colorado's Rare & Distinctive Collections