Forest Rebel

Forest Rebel (2022) comprises a series of 30"x60" chromogenic prints, combinations of body photograms and monochromatic lens-based landscape scenes. The series is formed from the basic additive and subtractive color systems central to color theory (CMYK and RGB). Color darkroom process uses a CMYK mixing system; these prints were produced from black and white negatives, which were then mixed in the enlarging process using the extremities of each possible color value to showcase the widest range of color possible. These pieces engage the classic trope of landscape composition, that of the lone figure upon a vast landscape. In this case, the presence of the artist's body as a photogram signals both presence and absence, an attempted flight into nature. The artist is present in the print, present in the landscape, but in a fundamentally different way than the scene itself. Pressed against the paper, with merely a silhouette, the shadow emerges into the landscape yet does not quite reach it. The title is an homage to Ernst Junger's treatise The Forest Passage, a meditation on the forest as a metaphor for individual resistance from oppression. The forest rebel is the eponymous figure which retreats into the forest, cultivating an inward resistance to tyranny, manifesting in a strength of will which defies the demands of power.

Forest Rebel installed in Hope College's Elevator Gallery project space, spring 2023.

A series of 16"x20" test prints was also produced.