Vessels

The VESSEL imagery above developed out ofthe installation “Reflections” at the D and R Greenway, Princeton, where vessel shapes were cut out and ordered on a large wall:

Inspired initially by the play of light on water surfaces, the wall piece “Vessels” also reflects my persistent interest in collections. This piece evokes for me the shelves of a display cabinet in a museum of vessels to contain water, light, and shadow, as if their ephemeral nature could ever be halted and contained. The museum’s archival purpose might also be to hold back its capacity for malevolence. The light seduces and secrets any potential disaster from weather, contamination or toxin. A museum to hold souvenirs of romance and savagery.

I took photographs of containers - ones of personal import - and of water surfaces at the Delaware and Raritan canal, Carnegie Lake and an indoor pool. I particularly liked the strategy of placing the horizontal water surface perpendicular to the vessel profile. The photography and the manipulations were all made digitally.

- February 2009