As I was leaving Drury University, I found myself increasingly fascinated with these ideas, my conception of self, and my own relationship with the preservation of time.
Paper from the Drury herbarium that was used in the late 1800s to press local flora serves as the base of my series, echoing humanity’s constant desire to preserve the past, but also my own rejection of it as the paper rips. This archival paper is overlaid with drypoint images of an anatomical heart, Death’s Head moth, the Illuminati eye, and a fractal self portrait.
Duality is an ever-lingering force within On Flowers, represented most literally in the double-repetition of imagery, though also more subtly within the symbolism of each image.
The lingering memories impressed within the paper juxtaposed with allegories of Thanatos, or the death drive, a quest for the truth, logicism applied to emotionalism, and a disjointed sense of self, serve to propel the work into a deeply contemplative realm.
Each work was photographed in natural light and again on a light table with back lighting to show the texture and history of the paper.
