slow burn (Monument Valley), 35mm transferred to digital print, smoke residue, ash, 24”x36”, ed. of 3 unique variants, 2022 ed. 1
To create the Slow Burn photo series, I string dynamite fuse through holes in the frame and burn it inside the glass. This leaves a trail of destruction across a precious medium: landscape photography. These photos discuss manifest destiny, industrialization, and the ruin/taint/scarring of something “pristine”. The smoke marks the glass and darkens the photo itself, critically tapping into the lineage of landscape photography and its almost propagandist use for expansion and land ownership while also conveying the compromised health of our environment. Formally interrupting the medium in this way creates a new truth in the photograph that runs contrary to the romantic depictions frequently circulated and creates an elegy of sorts for a choked and charred world.