ABOUT
@bu_graphicdesign
@bostonpainting
@pmp.bu
@bostonsculpture
@buvisualnarrative
she/her
Julianne Dao
I am interested in how the lack of visibility of an image may reinforce the act of looking, through recognizability and interaction with space, light, and shadow, to create an experience that goes beyond seeing an image. To engage these concepts, I explore the theme of ephemerality through nature. Each of my works captures the essence of an experience by exploring images of nature that are processed to border on the edge of visibility. Ephemerality is conveyed through imagery, material, and juxtapositions between obfuscation and visibility.
Nature is an inherently ephemeral subject. It is constantly transforming and never stagnant. Images of water, plants, lights, and shadows highlight nature’s ephemeral qualities, alluding to general feelings of nostalgia, familiarity, and yearning. To enhance and embody these feelings, material and medium are essential. Materials have the ability to create the impression of various sensations, tangible and intangible. Using translucent fabrics and paper, my work interacts with light and air to describe the delicate, hazy, and fleeting qualities of ephemerality. These materials are able to capture light and cast shadows to encompass the image not only on its surface but also in the space it occupies.
Toward the concept of ephemerality, where clarity is always fluctuating in a moment that is difficult to preserve, I use a variety of techniques creating juxtapositions between the recognizable and the nearly undetectable image. Printmaking techniques of blind embossment and chine collé allow for layering of various imagery and materials, with each layer concealing or highlighting the imagery. The source of the imagery comes from photographs, mainly polaroids, that for me, suggest nostalgia. Utilizing the medium’s unpredictability results in intentionally degraded images that speak to the passage of time, obscured moments, and ephemerality.
Collagraph blind embossment with inkjet print chine collé,
24 × 18 in.
Collagraph and inkjet print, 21 × 17 in.
Woodcut with collagraph blind embossment, 18 × 13 in.