Halcyon 

Halcyon, defined as a period of time that was idyllically peaceful and calm. This work captures, preserves, and catalogues the essence of the magnificent sky. Halcyon is comprised of 180 cyanotypes developed through a ritualistic process. Growing up in a place where sunshine and blue skies are an everyday occurrence, makes the experience of a sunny day less magical. Moving to an environment where sun filled days are less frequent has taught me to appreciate the grandeur of a blue sky, and the vitality encountered in the radiant sunshine. My compulsive documentation of white clouds on cyan backdrops represents my love and longing for beautiful crisp days where I can spend time soaking up nutrients from the sun and engaging with the natural world around me.

Each image is created through a chemical reaction. The process of creating moments of alchemy to form unique imagery is done by mixing potassium ferricyanide and ferric ammonium citrate together and systematically applying it to a piece of hand-torn watercolor paper. The chemical reaction occurs when the hand-coated paper is exposed to the sun’s UV rays. The very thing that allows the image to come to life on the paper, is also the subject of the image itself. The process provides me with an opportunity to spend time capturing the sky, as well as preserving the experience of being under the sun. As the paper is soaking up the sunlight to give it life, and catalogue the image, I too am soaking up the sunlight to restore life in my body.  

Making time for contemplation and reflection, I take time to lay under the sky, absorbing the rays as the image takes form. It is my escape, for a moment I am able to let go of the world around me and enter into my own world. Creating this archive of images, saves these moments and allows me to go back to the time spent under the sky, and the experience of my escape. This ritualistic process of image making permits me to take the time to focus on myself and ignore the things that I cannot control on a daily basis.