Desire Paths
Desire Paths is an ongoing series of cyanotypes made with water at the St. Joseph River. Returning repeatedly to the same location, I work with the conditions of each day (water, weather, sand, light, and chance) to create images that are shaped as much by the environment as by my own decisions. The river becomes an active collaborator in the process.
The title refers to the informal paths created when living things or natural forces move through a landscape according to their own needs rather than following predetermined routes. I am interested in this idea of movement shaping place, and in the parallel between these paths and my repeated return to the river.
The work has also become a way of considering presence in an increasingly mediated and uncertain world. The cyanotype process requires sustained physical attention, allowing me to slow down, observe, and relinquish control. The resulting images are not representations of the river, but physical records of an encounter with it.
