Garrett_Artist Statement

For my final project I was interested in the recently captured image of the cosmic web. The cosmic web is made up of veins of gas and dark matter that form connections between galaxies, transporting matter throughout the Universe. Up until this year the cosmic web was just theoretical and there was no photographic evidence of its existence. Thanks to a quasar lighting up the gas in the web, researchers at UC Santa Cruz were able to capture the first image of the cosmic web. I was inspired by the idea of such a large structure that transports the materials everything is made of remained invisible until something bright enough lit it up for us. I decided that I wanted to make a series of images where the cosmic web is visible when in front of bright celestial bodies. These images will show that even though we cannot see the cosmic web most of the time, it is still there even in front of the nebulas, galaxies, and quasars in the images taken from the Hubble telescope.

Because the concept I chose involves light and science I thought it would be fitting for the medium I use to do the same. I am a lab-tech in the chemistry and physics labs here at Chapman, and my supervisor told me about cyanotype prints. Cyanotype is an easy and cheap form of photography introduced in 1842 by the astronomer John Herschel. Herschel used cyanotype to recreate notes and diagrams. Cyanotype was brought to photography by Anna Atkins who used it to document various plant life. Atkins is considered to be the first female photographer.

 The cyanotype solution is a mixture of Potassium ferricyanide and Ferric ammonium citrate. The solution is applied to whatever material that the image will be printed on. After it has dried it is placed out in the sun for 10 to 20 minutes with a negative or various objects placed flat on it. The chemicals react to ultra violet light so the more an area is exposed, the darker it will be in the final image. After the image has been exposed for long enough it is washed for five minutes then left to dry. The washing causes the image to finish developing and turn the blue color that cyanotype is known for. This also washes off the rest of the chemicals so that it is no longer sensitive to UV rays.

Though many people consider art and science to be on complete opposite sides of the spectrum, art has been used to communicate scientific ideas for ages. Throughout time scientists would jot down observations with sketches or illustrate concepts through diagrams. Before photography was invented, drawings and paintings were how many things were documented, including scientific break throughs.

This works the other way around too in that many art mediums involve and can be explained by scientific processes. For instance both ceramics and photography are forms of chemistry. The world of science has influenced the world of art just as much as art has influenced science.