Beginning July 2017, I set out across neighborhoods in Somerville, Cambridge and Boston, with light-tight packages containing prepared sheets of vellum coated with a Cyanotype emulsion. My intention was to create a light drawing of a real life connection with one or more strangers. A camera-less process, Cyanotypes rely on an iron based salt and sunshine to form a silhouette tracing of whatever is in contact with the light sensitive paper. Exposures last from ten to fourteen minutes, depending on the time of day.
In 2019 I expanded the project by combining traces from different days and places to expand the network of resulting connections.
Every participant brings their own interpretation to my instruction to "lie down across the prepared pages." What occurs is always better than I could have imagined.
This is my third project where I combine the medium of photography with social and collaborative actions.
