"Every time you work with the dead, you take a little bit of that with you - it's like collecting stones in your pockets - it will weigh you down if you don't find a way to unload your pockets."

 

How do you grieve for people you don’t know? This Cyanotype series, Resurface, explores that notion through a collection of shells gathered from the river by reprinting images from found glass plate negatives onto them.

 

Visiting the Rio Grande became an escape from my day job in forensics. During the pandemic, I became a Death Investigator. I learned that these encounters with the dead in my community, the event of their death, and their life stories were much more intimate experiences than I realized. While at the river, I began collecting shells from the bottom and bringing them home. I quickly amassed a pile of shells. Using the cyanotype process, I am able to make portraits of those who lived over 100 years ago reemerge. These resulting portraits became momentos of grief and helped me visualize the invisible weight I carry after engaging with someone after death.

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