Untitled [cut paper cyanotype drawings], 2012
cyanotype on paper
17 x 14 inches each

These cut cyanotype drawings are both the negative/light-blocking mechanism as well as the image. I make a set of cuts, coat the paper with emulsion, and expose it face down allowing the cut portions to determine where light leaks through. Where light hits the emulsion, a mark of blue is made. This process hovers between precision and accident--the results are always unpredictable despite the directive of the cut. Once dry, I heal the cuts carefully and individually, refitting them back to a smooth surface and sealing them with an archival book-mending tissue tape on the back. In the case of no. 3 and 4 in this series, this process of exposure, development, and healing was repeated 2 and 3 times respectively for cuts that went in different directions crossing each other.

Cyanotype is a historic process that references architectural blue prints as well as early scientific specimen collections. My work is heavily influenced by both architecture as well as the history of science. The forms in these drawings are abstracted from architectural drawings for tensile structures and diagrams for scientific instruments.