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| Art Work
360°N
I document the serenity of sky and water. I make
tranquil, atmospheric photographs from Lake Michigan’s shoreline. With the
tumultuousness of the city to my back, I find absolute release in a landscape
formed by light and time, water and sky. I derive immense pleasure in transforming
a vast uncontrollable environment into photographs that offer the possibility of
serene contemplation.
It is hard to equate with exactitude what we see with what
we feel. When seeing is translated into feeling, when feeling is translated
into word, when word is transformed into a picture, new relationships and unequal
descriptions emerge. To make a picture as close to the initial seeing as possible,
I discovered and applied a set of mathematical and scientific systems. I engaged
these systems because I believe that Nature is an uncontrollable force that can be
actually calculated mathematically and scientifically. The product of these calculable
systems is a photographic series I have titled 360°N.
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| 360°N was originally displayed as an interactive
installation of photographs, text, and lighting that chronicles one 24 hour
cycle. The camera lens was positioned facing exactly 360°N to obtain the most
even lighting possible. The day I recreated, preserved Nature’s serenity
because I worked through specialized mathematical an scientific formulas. Consequently,
the photographs became a marriage of seeing, science and calculation. Each image was
printed using this mathematical formula from Kodak: x = a x (b)2 / (c)2, where a = old
exposure time, b = new lens paper distance and c = old lens to paper distance. 24
photographs were presented: 12 representing the fall of the day and 12 representing
the rise of the night. The installation of the first 12 photographs represents A.M. -
Nightfall, Astronomical Twilight (5:14 am), Nautical Twilight (5:47 am), Civil Twilight
(6:19 am), Sunrise (6:48 am), Moon set (8:23 am) and Morning. The second 12 prints represent
P.M. - Nightrise, Sunset (5:22 pm), Civil Twilight (5:51 pm), Nautical Twilight (6:24 pm),
Astronomical Twilight (6:56 pm), and Moon rise (8:41 pm). The space that the photos were
housed in was a 10x10 room with one small opening as the doorway. The site doorway itself
represented night, and the wall space between the two smallest photos represented day.
Representing the fall of a day and the rise of the night, the
installation lighting was modulated by a continuous 12 second cycle allowing the viewer to
feel as thought they are experiencing the rising and falling of the sun. The systems and
formulas I used to create this installation simultaneously allowed me to relinquish yet
retain control over the work. I determined the system by which the work would be made and
then surrendered control to that system. Thus, by yielding control over the work to an
external system, I was actually giving up control. As a result, I felt free, and in control.
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