PROJECT DETAILS WRITTEN BELOW.

This project is inspired by the Ryoan-ji rock garden in Kyoto, Japan as a meditative look at the environment and our surroundings. The Ryoan-ji garden consists of 15 rocks, which is the number of photo paper brands depicted and number of folds per page.

John Cage spent the end of his life working on his Ryoan-ji drawings and musical scores. Through extensive research I have discovered one of the scores (20:54) that strikes an environmental solitude within me while listening and has become the constant I have used as the time element for length of exposure prior to image capture.

Each piece of black and white photo paper is exposed to the environment at different times within the day for 20:54 allowing the absorption of the natural elements from the surroundings into the chemical structures of the photography paper. This is explained by Mie Theory, which explains how small particles scatter light differently depending on their size and the wavelength of the light. The exposure to the natural light (sun, stars and surrounding wavelengths) creates a reaction within the relationship between the emulsion mixture and silver halide crystal particles. This reaction of absorption during the exposure process creates vibrant blue gradients to each type of paper.

The chemical components within the paper are capturing the evolution of the visual through time from one state to another. These new geometric objects are then placed on the white background and photographed digitally through medium format allowing the shadow and image to reflect each objects form.

The individual prints are shown as a series of objects that exist as a floor sculpture. The 25" square photographic print is adhered to the top of a block of Lucite that is 25" square by 5" thick that creates a prismatic effect whenever light intersects the lucite base depending on where the piece is situated.  Light continues to be part of the work as it refracts through the lucite block.