Flowerings:
PolyColor Photograms

The camera-less photogram is as old as photography itself. First used in a scientific context to document the shapes of nature on light sensitive papers, it is now valued for its abstract renderings of pattern and light. 

The carbon PolyColor is made with a multi-colored emulsion which is the subject of the photogram itself. The unique gestural movements that create the light sensitive layer are on full display in the multi-layer PolyColor photogram. 

Unlike the conventional photogram - typically a uniformly dark background with a white silhouette that obscures the sensitized layer under the placed object - the vibrant and colorful PolyColor “Flowering” photograms are visualizations of the dynamic, electro-chemical forces that lie beneath the surface  - the fertile soils from which both image and gardens of flowers emerge. 

Finally, “Flowerings” is in honor of Anna Atkins, whose photograms of botanical specimens were used in the first book illustrated with photographs (Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, 1843).