SGCI Panel Presentation

In April 2024, Lindsey Beal and I presented our collaborative papermaking/photography/printmaking projects at the Southern Graphics Council’s annual conference that was in Providence, RI this year. The panel was called Light/Touch/Photo/Print, and it was organized by Deborah Cornell & Toni Pepe.

Description of Light/Touch/Photo/Print:

We live in an ever-increasing visual culture in which the photo-image is a primary mode of communication. The manipulation of techniques combining tactile printmaking and light-based photography is a robust contemporary art practice. In photography, traditional methods of imaging such as salt prints, cliche verre, and chemigrams transform with new materials such as copy toner, grained glass, and mylar. Printmaking lends its rich tactility to polymerized print surfaces, digital printing and transfers, and cyanotype washes, and discipline-wide there is increasing emphasis on one-of-a-kind print solutions. Artists such as Oscar Munoz, Graciela Saco, and Derek Besant use the evanescent qualities of photography along with the unusual and compelling surfaces of the print to create a collective memory. The camera and the print matrix become a ground for improvisation rather than a closely defined process. This interdisciplinary panel will consider how these hybrid extensions of touch and light expand the vibrant conversation between printmaking and photography.