This body of work endeavors to preserve memory by leaning into themes of time, care, and impermanence through a combination of photography and textile. Through improvisational quilting and intuitive stitching I attempt to disrupt and challenge feminist traditions of handmade art which insist on the absence of flaws. Using these methods I construct or mend textiles to protect the love and care that the images hold–representing the ever present battle against the passing of time and fading of memories. 

The images, taken on black and white film which are then used to make cyanotypes on 100% cotton canvas fabric, capture intimate and fleeting moments between me, the photographer, and loved ones over the course of this final year of college. The cyanotypes are then pieced together with second hand materials, bringing a past life of their own, and hand sewn to create memory quilts of varying sizes. My research and inspiration throughout this project stemmed from female artists whose work is centralized around similar themes. Anna Atkins, known for being the first person–male or female–to publish a book illustrated with photographs in 1843, used the camera-less process of cyanotyping to document her field work in botany. While the content of her cyanotypes are inanimate plant material, Atkins imbues a sense of vivacity and levity into her compositions which I strive after. Another influence in my style of photography is Justine Kurland’s work from her series Girl Pictures. Kurland’s photographs imagine the coming world of an all female society in which girls are made stronger by the presence of other girls. I hope to emulate a similar sentiment in my work, conveying the empowering nature of being surrounded by other women and nonbinary people in our perpetual state of becoming.

The installation of this work invites the viewer to consider how they preserve their own memories, additionally the gestural aspects of the pieces may allow their own memories to find footing somewhere in the work. The unfinished details of this work imply a continuation past the exhibition date as I acknowledge that this effort will persist throughout the course of my life, and that the longing to freeze a moment will never cease.