In September, 2022, I spent my first Artist Residency at the Weir Farm National Historic Park in Wilton, CT. For 21 days I had the freedom to research and experiment with several camera-less, experimental photographic processes, as well as photograph freely around the farm. I lived in the old caretaker's house, rising early to set out my cyanotype and lumen compositions in the sun, take long walks along the forest trails, and build a new body of work.

​

​Every day I made at least one lumen print, gradually creating a visual diary of my time at the farm. Lumens are photographic images made on classic, analog black and white darkroom paper. I used the naturally growing plant life on the farm to create my daily compositions by layering the botanical matter on top of the paper, covering with a sheet of glass, and leaving them to expose outdoors for several hours. The fantastical colors are made as the chemicals inherent in each brand of manufactured paper are activated by the sun combined with the bleeding of the plants' own phytochemicals into the paper.  The resulting images are magical, colorful, and often quite abstract.