[WORK]
GENERATIONAL ENTROPY
[3 x cyanotype print and laser etchings]
/2024
Generational Entropy reflects on the impermanence of family memory, drawing inspiration from Soviet-era “ribs” – bootleg records etched onto discarded X-rays, only playable a few times before their fragile surface deteriorated away. These haunting artifacts embodied both fragility and reverence, qualities I sought to echo in a visual response to my own family’s migration story.
Using objects belonging to my father – military documents, road maps, worn tools – I created layered scanner collages that act as fragments of a larger, pieced-together narrative. These compositions speak to the way family history is often passed down: incomplete, anecdotal, and vulnerable to loss.
Cyanotype was chosen for its stark, luminous qualities, mimicking the spectral glow of X-rays. Laser-etched grooves cut into the prints reference both the sonic texture of records and the fragility of memory.
Close up of original ‘ribs’Ribs on display at the 2024 Venice BiennaleClose up of cyanotype printing and washing processTest stripScanner collage sampleNegativeProof of concept ‘7” singles’
Cyanotype was chosen for its stark, luminous qualities, mimicking the spectral glow of X-rays. Laser-etched grooves cut into the prints reference both the sonic texture of records and the fragility of memory. One piece, dedicated to my mother, was deliberately distressed by hand with an awl after her passing – a physical gesture that mirrored the erosion of her voice from the world, and from our stories.
This work sits between preservation and deterioration, permanence and silence. It attempts to make tangible what so often slips away: the half-remembered, the undocumented, the stories replayed until they begin to fade.