The Seeker

With photographic Cyanotype as the visual framework, my work considers ideas such as the primal and spiritual relationship to natural landscapes, an inherently known feeling of belonging, and adventure. As we experience our surroundings we create connections to the social and natural world, a calling of curiosity that leads us to explore our ever changing planet. These works are my photographs that span across the west coast of North America. A journey through California deserts and mountains to the islands of the Salish Sea of the Pacific Northwest. 

Expressed in the process of Cyanotype prints, the images transform into a painterly ephemeral moment on paper. The process utilizes all the natural elements, Earth, Air, Water, and Fire, connecting the work on an alchemic level to the final resolution of the piece. Each photographic negative is layered upon a hand coated paper that is then exposed to the Sun, igniting the irons and salts in the light sensitive solution to turn blue. The areas of the print that are covered from the sun do not expose and therefore stay white. The prints are then washed thoroughly and dried. The process itself is a study of alchemy and art, each print rendering into its own uniqueness. 

-Vanessa O. Reyes