Hydrospheric Variations

Peel the earth like an apple. The parings illustrate where we live—in the hydrosphere, a sliver above and below the surface holding rivers, lakes, oceans, ice, ground water, and clouds. Water is the most abundant compound on earth and it is essential to creaturely life. It determines the course of our lives and civilization. Water and clouds are an endlessly satisfying inspiration even in this time of climate uncertainty. Hydrospheric Variations is a wordless accordion book consisting of abstracted nature imagery, printed on heavyweight Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper (500gsm). Pages are bound with mulberry paper. Traditional cloth cover. Custom cardboard boxes contain one additional image, protect the books, and provide a place for information about the book.

Each image is composed of one-to-five photographic exposures, combined with tonal alterations. This causes a reduction of recognition but not of complexity. I have worked with nature imagery in this way since 2014, changing at that time from a representational photographic practice to abstraction. This book was made in 2020 using prints made in 2019. The source material is from two funded residencies, each resulting in new series, as well as other images made later. The overall scope of this work has become more integrated—and more interesting to me—as more elements merge. 

Handmade book in two sizes:
Small (4.5 x 8 x 0.5 inches) in Box, shown in video
Large (9 x 16 x 0.5 inches) in Box