Plant Portraits in Liquid Light (2001–2002)

This contact-printed botanical portrait captures the silhouetted head of a dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) collected from Golden Gate Park in 2001. The flower, pressed between glass and exposed onto orthochromatic film, reveals its radial architecture and withering textures with a ghostlike density.

Printed using liquid photographic emulsion on watercolor paper, the image evokes both scientific specimen and devotional icon—part natural history, part personal cosmology. One of a small series produced in a self-constructed darkroom in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco, the work merges early photographic experimentation with a reverent approach to plant life.

The original print was part of an unsold portfolio lost in London in 2003. This scan is one of the only remaining records.

This plate records a partial exposure of a Pteridophyta (fern) frond, printed via contact negative onto liquid-emulsion-coated watercolor paper. Unlike the more specimen-focused prints in the Plant Portraits series, this work incorporates an additional layer of hand-drawn or gestural interference—likely made with ink or developer brushstrokes during processing.

The result is a hybrid composition: botanical imprint, atmospheric veil, and subconscious gesture. The lower form suggests containment—like a seedpod, a mask, or a magnified cell—surrounded by scribbled thresholds and washed densities.

Created in the artist’s bathroom darkroom in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, this piece blends photographic process with early explorations of intuitive mark-making and ritualized drawing. It was part of the portfolio lost in London in 2003.

This work captures a symmetrical botanical form—a pressed blossom, a radial seed structure—developed through the experimental process of contact printing plant matter using ortho film and liquid emulsion on watercolor paper. The resulting image reveals a mirrored pair of petal-like structures suspended in grayscale, with a central band of motion blur suggesting temporal distortion.

Part plant, part breath, part winged anatomy, this piece occupies a liminal space between specimen and spirit. Its symmetrical form is evocative of biological diagrams, yet softened by the emulsified texture and atmospheric light leaks.

One of the quieter yet most formally refined pieces in the Plant Portraits series, this image—like the rest—was lost during the artist’s time in London. What remains is this archival scan, a digital ghost of an analog offering.

This image captures the fragmented structure of a partially decomposed Magnolia grandiflora leaf, collected in autumn from the understory of Golden Gate Park. The original contact negative was made by pressing the leaf between glass and exposing it onto orthochromatic film. The print was later developed onto watercolor paper hand-coated with liquid photographic emulsion.

The resulting form floats in the frame—hovering between specimen and specter. Its delicate tears, curling edge, and vascular transparency hint at both botanical decay and emotional weather. The absence of a clear ground line enhances the impression of disembodiment.

Captured using orthochromatic film and printed with liquid emulsion, this image portrays what is believed to be a dried wildflower or seed pod mid-disintegration. The material was pressed between glass and exposed in a large-format enlarger, creating a contact negative that preserved the chaotic elegance of the structure.

The resulting form reads as a botanical detonation—threads and stems flying outward, tendrils fraying into negative space. At its center, the mass darkens almost to pure black, anchoring the explosive gesture in stillness. The composition oscillates between floral specimen and inkblot—a botanical Rorschach.

Part of the Plant Portraits series created in a self-constructed bathroom darkroom in the Tenderloin, this piece was among the works lost in London in 2003.

This print captures a vertical composition of tangled vines—likely Convolvulus arvensis (field bindweed)—pressed and exposed to create a stark silhouette that teeters between plant matter and human form. The bundled mass on the left suggests a cloaked figure or cocoon, while the delicate sprouting on the right edge hints at reaching, growing, and unraveling.

Printed using liquid photographic emulsion on watercolor paper, this piece exemplifies the artist’s dual interest in botanical specificity and psychological projection. Like much of the Plant Portraits series, it blurs the line between archival documentation and spiritual apparition.

Created in the artist’s makeshift darkroom in the Tenderloin district, the original was lost in 2003 in London. This scan remains as part of the surviving digital archive.