Linda Kunik

STATEMENT

RAW BEAUTY
What has been given is now taken

In Raw Beauty, I manipulate photography both perceptually and physically. The first set of photographs are archival pigment prints on Slickrock with laminate that produce a synthetic dimensionality where none exists. At times the images appear representational, and at other times show an abstracted state more aligned with memory and illusion.

The second set of photographs feature an emulsion process I discovered and refined five years ago. In this process I hand-separate an ink emulsion image from its original support and float it in a liquid bath, making the image movable and translucent. Allowing it to take on a life of its own, I gently push it onto a new support, solidifying its distortions and ripples.

In this work, I explore the aftermath of a forest fire that burned through Sequoia National Forest October 2021. Walking around, I discovered burnt, lifeless tree trunks, the holes where roots still smoldered, and white ash and cinders covering the land. Hiking around the land with my camera for over a week, I was able to capture the stark images I found everywhere. Taking photographs from afar and up close, changed the way I looked at these trees, stumps, rock formations and land. The more I photographed, the boundary between representational and abstract fell away.

Experimenting with perception and contrast have always been at the core of my work. It began with my interpretation of the glaciers melting by physically breaking glass upon the canvas, and the psychological correspondence to people’s lives being tragically affected. It continued with the close-up and sensual photographs of heirloom tomatoes from a four-year gardening project, which also fed a community of artists, which has led to the work today. 

Linda Kunik
lindakunik@gmail.com
www.lkunik.com