Artist Statement
I find the human body fascinating and terrifying, familiar yet enigmatic. I wanted to produce work that made reference to the body without being pictorial. With Light Drawings I explore the body as an intimate abstracted landscape while simultaneously discovering the intricacies of my own skin.
I am inspired when I work inside the darkroom. Although no longer a practical photographic process, I feel it continues to be a relevant medium of contemporary art.
I find the human body fascinating and terrifying, familiar yet enigmatic. I wanted to produce work that made reference to the body without being pictorial. With Light Drawings I explore the body as an intimate abstracted landscape while simultaneously discovering the intricacies of my own skin.
I am inspired when I work inside the darkroom. Although no longer a practical photographic process, I feel it continues to be a relevant medium of contemporary art.
The darkroom is a laboratory where I find the urge to explore and experiment.
Light Drawings are the product of my explorations in the darkroom. I created a development process that is a hybrid of the photogram and the photograph. Instead of projecting light through a film negative onto light sensitive paper, I replace the negative with transparent castings made from my own skin.
The idea of casting my skin was influenced by memories of elementary school. On our desks we had pots of white glue. When the teacher wasn’t looking I would coat my hand a layer of glue. When the glue was dry, I would peel it from my hand to admire the resulting replica.
My early skin casts were fragile and did not allow sufficient light transmission during exposure. The resulting prints displayed a loss of detail and tone variance. After experimenting with a variety of materials I found a formula that was transparent enough to produce the detail I wanted-resulting in the final images.
Katrina Jennifer Bedford
Light Drawings are the product of my explorations in the darkroom. I created a development process that is a hybrid of the photogram and the photograph. Instead of projecting light through a film negative onto light sensitive paper, I replace the negative with transparent castings made from my own skin.
The idea of casting my skin was influenced by memories of elementary school. On our desks we had pots of white glue. When the teacher wasn’t looking I would coat my hand a layer of glue. When the glue was dry, I would peel it from my hand to admire the resulting replica.
My early skin casts were fragile and did not allow sufficient light transmission during exposure. The resulting prints displayed a loss of detail and tone variance. After experimenting with a variety of materials I found a formula that was transparent enough to produce the detail I wanted-resulting in the final images.
Katrina Jennifer Bedford
