Smoke and Chaff

The series Smoke and Chaff investigates absence. This series uses Cyanotype prints of native landscapes that are bleached out with sodium bicarbonate. The basic chemistry degrades the color compounds in the photo print, reflecting the degraded quality of our grasslands, wetlands, and timber. Candle smoke, the dirty remnants of an incomplete burn, creates the outline of animals and plants that are now much diminished or absent in Iowa.

The Midwest, Iowa in particular, is one of the most modified landscapes on earth, with less than one percent of native prairie and forest land remaining. The decimation of diversity in the ecological environment speaks to our desire to make the world match our own vision of success, taming the seeming chaos of the created order.

The more we learn about the complexity and beauty of our native ecosystems, the more deeply we feel their loss.