Christine Lorenz: Halophilic 3-1406

Salt and plastic are everywhere on earth that humans are, as well as most places where we aren’t. As familiar and close at hand as salt is, imagery of it abounds in language, from the poetic to the mundane. But what kind of poetics do we have for a world that is shot through with plastics at every level? What kind of stories could possibly fit the world we’re creating now? As the Book of Revelations draws to a close, John writes: Now I saw a new heavens and a new earth, for the first heavens and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. (Rev. 21:1 NKJV) These images are macro photographs of salt crystals, photographed dry on the sheets of single use plastics on which they were cultivated. They are lit from below with polarized light. Multiple layers of additional plastics are used as retarders to modify the polarized light source, and an additional polarizing filter is used on the lens. The combination of these layers generates unpredictable color effects that are only visible through the photographic process. Suede Vision is a synthetic textile that is has somewhat less drape and a more suede-like finish.