Exodus From Eden

Exodus From Eden is a project that is interested in surface, reflection, and depth. Printed directly on gold leaf on paper, photographs in this series explore dimension in a way not facilitated by traditional printing. The influences of this project range from Byzantine icons to the monogolds of Yves Klein, but religion is central to its conception. Gold leaf, my primary material, was historically used to illustrate wealth and status. It was used by the church to demonstrate power, as well as to transcend the physical realm. Gold leaf backgrounds were used in religious icons to push the saint figure forward in flickering candlelight, creating a subject which existed both in the spiritual realm of the painting and simultaneously reached out into the physical realm of the viewer. My project explores the glamour of gold, its transcendental properties, but also the audacious displays of wealth and power as well as the more modern, almost kitschy uses of gold leaf.

In 2021, this project was updated with a second self-portrait / altarpiece. This piece, Trans/cendence, posits the artist as divine, occupying the sacred liminal space, their presence in the physical realm merely a projection of their true divine self. Queer beings occupy this space constantly—our physical bodies are so often untethered from how we conceptualize our authentic selves. The evolution of this altarpiece from 2019 to 2021 is evidence of my own attempts to align my physical presence with a truer version of myself as I grew in my own queerness and entrenched myself in communities that supported that growth.