Many of these photographs were made of natural forms with an interest in patterns and texture. They are photographs made while walking and wandering in spaces from Todos Santos Mexico to botanic gardens in Florida to the Huntington Gardens in Los Angeles. Notes in passing.
I have always had an interest in how color is rendered with photographic materials. Is it enough to settle with how the camera records and the printer translates? I returned to a process of applied color to the photograph, something I did many years ago. Putting watercolor on the surface of an inkjet print sounds like a dangerous act but after some practice it worked well. These prints are now photographs and paintings (or something in between).
As I slowly developed this body of work I wanted to integrate the photographs into new photographs. A recent Nasher publication introduced me to the French phrase ‘mise en abyme’, the technique of placing a copy of an image within itself; a story within a story. A perfect descriptor.
I hope that story is the power of these photographs, paintings and collages; a weaving of what is natural, cultivated and composed.
Kenda North, Dallas
2024
