Experimental nominee

Photos are physical records of light trace. Expanding and compressing, distorting and abstracting, photographs play with time and light in ways that no other medium does. In these photos, the idea of recording and capturing light is expanded on through the integration of candles and fire. In most images, the negative was burned post-development before being scanned digitally or darkroom printed. The burned film adds a second light trace to the exposed film, creating a trace on top of a trace or an "index sandwich." In one photo, 20 minutes of candles burning down is compressed and distilled into one still image. Through the use of burning film and long exposure, ideas of miracle, ritual, and spirituality are being explored and made into photographic abstractions. In this way, these images are pieces of evidence from a world that is completely inaccessible without photography, a world where light, fire, and time are messed with and utilized to create visually striking photographs.

Recently graduated photographer from Hampshire College. I grew up in Lower Manhattan and have been studying the history and practice of photography for over eight years. I have a deep love for the analog process. Some of my inspirations include Nan Goldin, Alessandra Sanguinetti, and Stephen Shore.