Sleeping by my father’s grave: a work in progress
When my father passed away unexpectedly I struggled mightily with the loss. We had a laundry list of adventures we had wanted to do together. He had also suggested subject matter for me over the years, mostly involving landscapes, which have not been my normal forte. I wanted to keep his memory very close to me, so after a time, I decided to pursue the themes and landscapes and objects that were important to him. I have photographed areas quite close to his actual burial site, in a historic military cemetery in Beaufort, SC. And I photographed areas that connect me to my childhood with him. I even took his handmade wooden pirogue out on a solo trip in the ancient cypress swamp on the Black River, NC, home to to oldest trees in North America east of the Mississippi. I also poured through his possessions, noting the objects that he kept and collected that were important to him. It felt like an anthropological dig. I created a pseudo scientific catalogue of items using cyanotypes in negative, that give the impression of looking at an x-ray. I am still working to discover if these two directions are linked or are two separate projects.
