Living History, Modern Worlds Collide

Xylene Transfer on Plaster

In December 2018, I travelled to Italy where I rang in the New Year watching fireworks over the Arno River in Florence. In Italy, I was captured by the living history surrounding me and the juxtaposition of ancient and modern worlds colliding. It was as if my art history textbook came to life, spilling into the bustling streets of Rome.

Many of the images I captured while in Italy incorporated modern people and structures, surrounded by ancient ruins and artifacts. After returning to Alaska, I decided to make these new images of modern day Italy, old again, by turning them into inspired frescos. I tried to achieve this by making plaster plates, then I used the xylene image transfer process to manipulate the surface of the plaster and mimic the look of an aged fresco.

“Fontana Di Trevi” Xylene Transfer on Plaster, 2019

The Trevi Fountain is a fountain in the Trevi district in Rome, Italy was designed by Italian architect Nicola Salvi and completed by Giuseppe Pannini. It is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world.

Coins are thrown using the right hand over the left shoulder. The myth, which originates from the 1954 movie "Three Coins in the Fountain," says: If you throw one coin: you will return to Rome. If you throw two coins: you will fall in love with an attractive Italian. If you throw three coins: you will marry the person that you met.

An estimated 3,000 euros are thrown into the fountain each day! The money has been used to subsidize a supermarket for Rome's needy.