Ferns can be found all over Louisiana, in the woods, through the cracks, under the house.  It's only fitting that the Victorian meaning behind this ever-present foliage is "magic and fascination". It was within that spirit that photography commenced. What's now known as a lumen print began as an experiment testing the reaction between light-sensitive chemicals with the sun's energy on paper.  Many times, a fern was used as the primary subject, leading the way to photography as we know it today. 

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This original lumen print is part of my ongoing Victorian Mourning series, inspired by Victorian Mourning traditions of the 19th century. It combines Louisiana flora & foliage with lace, representing the Victorian custom of using flowers as expression and evoking the many traditions entrenched within our southern culture.     In New Orleans and South Louisiana, we use our traditions not just to commemorate, but to celebrate the past, the future, and most especially – the present.  This series is also inspired in part by the thoughts & reflections on life and death from Joseph Campbell and this quote from the Power of Myth:

 “the spirit is really the bouquet of life”.

That we are mortal, that we rely on death to survive, and that we are in a constant state of change, is fact.   How we view and act upon the fragile life we inhabit is entirely up to us.  What lives and blossoms for future generations is our spirit.   With respect to the thoughts of Joseph Campbell, the customs of my native Louisiana and to the origins of photography, also established in Victorian times, I created this series of Lumen prints, an early photographic process using (mostly) organic objects as subjects and the sun as developer.

Each piece will arrive signed on the back,  unmatted, unframed and carefully packaged to ensure proper delivery.    Please note there may be a slight color shift due to monitors/calibration.