This image began by photographing myself moving underneath a silver emergency blanket during very long exposures. I edit the photograph digitally to produce a transparency that I use to create a photopolymer gravure plate, which I ink in an intaglio-style method and print on a traditional etching press.

The marks I make on the plate—created through a overly vigorous wash-out
process—engenders a sense of the land as vulnerable, aged, distressed, and intractably mysterious—haunted by its own past and part of a present where its ecological stability is continuously threatened by the actions (or inaction) of humans. I hope the purposefully damaged plate encourages viewers to feel the image even more than they might “see” the image.

I made this photograph with my father looking on just outside of the frame--the Rappahannock river is a special place we have shared together throughout my entire life.