She Was a Little Bit Blue, 2021-2023
During the pandemic, having strict parameters forced a positive focus. As Covid continued, I felt the urgency to reflect the world back in a new way. This led to the pursuit of the cyanotype work that I made at The Penumbra Foundation. For this project, I am creating a cast of blue embedded in photographs: the blue of moodiness, the blue of reverie, the blue of midnight, the blue of remembering, the blue of singing the blues, the blue of veins... In this limited color space, I see the temperature of what makes us alive and connects us. This is also the blue of the historic cyanotype, a blue that honors the early photographic process of the first photographer, Anna Atkins. I am using digital negatives with this historic process as this technique combines the excitement of early invention with current digital trends. The process is slow and labor intensive, drawing on the slowing-down of time that we have experienced this Pandemic. - Dora Somosi