Along a Shadowed Shore (ongoing)
Along A Shadowed Shore includes four intertwined series, Nocturnal Tracing, Threshold Field Notes, Sargassum, and Dark Index, focused on the coastal ecosystems of South Florida, with attention to a short stretch of shoreline in Delray Beach shaped by uncertainty and accumulation. An increase in sargassum on the beach near my home, driven in part by rising ocean temperatures and agricultural runoff, prompted the work. While vital to marine life offshore when present in moderate amounts, its overgrowth can smother ecosystems, lower water quality, and, once on shore, release toxic gases and block sea turtle hatchlings from reaching the ocean. In recent years, these blooms have also become a warning sign, a kind of barometer of planetary change.
In response to these unprecedented levels of sargassum, I create photograms at the edge of the sea, imprinting a microcosm of the ocean onto light-sensitive paper. I then make a tea from washed ashore seaweed to develop the images and use saltwater to stabilize them. This process led me to bring the seaweed into the darkroom, where I magnify fragments to photographically record their intricate structures and gas-filled berries.
To further understand this shifting environment, I also photograph the sargassum lines farther from shore, the human-marked coast, and plants within the ecotone against a gridded backdrop. The resulting works form a material record of place, reflecting human impact and entanglement with the natural world. Together, they trace both the instability and persistence of coastal ecologies in flux.