Department of Art
Over the winter of 2020 – 2021 I began experimenting with creating photographic images using a high-resolution flatbed scanner. The ones I found most compelling and thought-provoking were of plant materials: flowers, leaves, even whole plants. I scanned each of these objects in a darkened room with the cover of the scanner up, instead of flat against the glass as would be the norm. The only source of light in these images is the LED light in the bar of the scanner as it moves precisely and slowly down the length of the glass. I found the quality of light captured by the scanner quite astonishing. The extreme detail because of the high resolution reveals a world unseen, a world of its own. At the same time the extremely narrow depth of field resulting from this process and the bottomless black surrounding the image add a sense of potent mystery.