Field Notes in the Dark (ongoing)
Field Notes in the Dark (2023-present) responds to the coastal ecosystems of South Florida through experimental photographic processes and sustained engagement with a short stretch of shoreline near my home. The project unfolds through interconnected chapters: Nocturnal Tracing, Sargassum, Dark Index, and Along a Shadowed Shore, each approaching the site through a distinct visual strategy. Accumulation, environmental change, and the tension between systems of observation and a place that continually exceeds them form a throughline across the work.
Seeing an increase in sargassum piled on the beach near my home prompted the work. While essential to marine ecosystems, the scale of recent blooms has become a visible marker of broader ecological shifts. In response, I create photograms at the water’s edge, allowing traces of the ocean to register directly onto light-sensitive paper. I then make a tea from washed ashore sargassum seaweed to develop the images and use saltwater to stabilize them (Nocturnal Tracing). This process led me to bring the seaweed into the darkroom, where I magnify small fragments to reveal their intricate structures and gas-filled berries (Sargassum).
The inquiry extends through photographs of the human-marked shoreline (Along a Shadowed Shore) and nocturnal studies of plants growing within the coastal ecotone (Dark Index). The grid, which recurs across the project, functions as both a provisional structure for ordering what is seen and a framework for imagining uncertain futures. Together, these chapters form a material portrait of a coastal ecology in flux.