Artist Statement – Dawn Morishige

Nature of my work:

My work is on the cutting edge of a new art form; that of Sculptural Photography and Film Etching.  I am a mixed media artist blending the techniques of darkroom manipulation with my own experimentation of sculpting resin and etching on Ortho-Litho Film.  I use ortho litho film, fiber photos, wood, metal, resin, paper, fabric, enamel, dry pigment, and acrylic medium.  My pieces are either created in screen form, free hanging panels or layered etched film that create a 3 dimensional sculptural image.  Etching on film creates an image that is both drawing and photography.  It enables me to draw attention to a particular part of a scene and/or add color to a black and white image.  Resin gives the pieces a liquid, holographic quality.

 My work is about illusory landscapes and personal vision.  As a student of photography I was drawn toward the pictorialist era.  Images from this era were vague and dreamlike.  The feeling of the image rather than location was the focal point.  The photographs hinted at an otherworldly place, one in which you might like to be, but haven’t seen or been before.  These images were the closest thing to impressionist or expressionist painting that could be done in photography.  This is what I believe influences my work.  I am interested in the possibilities of a landscape.  When I photograph something I usually see what could be, rather than what is actually there.  I also focus on scenes within scenes, much like the face you see inside a knot of wood or the bend in a tree that looks like a figure.  These photo shoots are the base of my work.  They are the beginning compositions that have yet to be finished.  I shoot with the thought in mind of blending or manipulating scenes to make them my own.  My film etching technique also echoes this desire of “personal” landscapes.  When part of the image is etched and colorized this creates a totally original scene, one that cannot be duplicated exactly.  I use resin that is poured over the piece to create a liquid almost holographic quality.  To me, photographs look richer and more alive as they are developed in the chemical baths of the darkroom.  The play of light off of something wet is a beautiful almost spiritual thing.  This is what I try to duplicate with the resin.   

I graduated with a Bachelors’ in Fine Art Photography right before the digital photography explosion.  My area of expertise was in the darkroom.  I manipulated photographs by chemicals and light; i.e. solarization, negative blending, liquid light, and toning.  These were very individual processes because there were so many variables.  This was something that was interesting to me because I wanted my photographs to be unique, something that couldn’t easily be reproduced.  The digital

age made the chemical darkroom obsolete.  It is now only reserved for photographers that keep it alive for their own artistic endeavors.  My work is a product of keeping

this process alive.  My images are still shot on black and white film that is hand-developed and then printed onto film by a darkroom enlarger.  My pieces are collages of these images or single photographs with part of the image etched and colorized.   

When finished they are no longer a particular place or scene, but an artpiece that has been created from whole cloth.  Originality is the intention of my work.  This is hard to do with the duplication aspect of photography, but one that I have strived for. 

Another important aspect of my work is to challenge the viewer to really “see” what is involved in the artwork.  My work is something new and cannot be categorized by a quick glance.  It has a hypnotic quality which encourages the viewer to stop, look and wonder.  When the viewer spends some time with my work it starts to reveal the many layers of techniques.  I hear “oh wow, I didn’t see that at first”, a lot.