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.