Christine Lorenz: Salt Fold 9385/8934

Salt is the most commonest of common things. Essential to human life, and an ever-present connection to the Earth and the sea, salt finds its place in countless metaphors. We can taste it when we can't see it, in our tears, on our skin; it makes us thirsty if we have too much. As a mineral in the world, it has a sort of life of its own. Left to its own devices, salt fluctuates between visible and invisible, organizing itself into structures and patterns, and dissolving again. Under ideal circumstances, the mineral settles into a clean-edged structure that maintains clarity and precise right angles as they grow. But circumstances are rarely ideal. Fluctuations in temperature, humidity, an occasional jostle, or pollution in the water will disrupt crystal formation. Any state we witness is a moment from a process of becoming, and or our mutable nature is there, in crystals the never quite reach an ideal form. This series was featured in Fraction Magazine, Issue 154, Spring 2022.