Primal Waters: Catherine Wilcox-Titus

Many of the swamps, ponds, and streams that were once plentiful still remain. Water, though a simple molecular formula, is an extraordinary substance subject to dramatic physical change depending on ambient conditions. Recent interplanetary explorations have confirmed that water, so fundamental to life, is distributed throughout the solar system. Early life forms may have emerged in the fecund swamps and ponds that surround us. Primal Waters is a close study of these dynamic systems where the surface always changes according to fluctuations in temperature, currents, and wind. I study the surfaces for patterns and naturally occurring geometric arrangements that intrigue me.

Most often, the shallow waters along the shore display the most dramatic effects of increasingly extreme temperature variations. This is where the freeze/thaw cycles of water, ice, and snow are most visible.  In warmer weather, the pollen deposits on the surface make the subtle currents and whirlpools visible. Episodic overgrowth of “invasive species” such as milfoil or algae blooms indicate an ecosystem under new kinds of stress. All these stressors have given rise to phenomena I have never seen before.

The black surround on each image was first suggested in the field while I handheld a lens hood in front of camera. The blackness appealed to me, since I wanted to evoke the idea of an intense gaze as though seen through a microscope or telescope. The black surround at once distances the viewer and concentrates the view. I aim to choose just the right amount of black; too much makes the image too distant, too little doesn’t hold the image still enough for intense focus.

In some of the images, I like the confusion of scale. With the black surround some of the images, particularly the pollen patterns, could be mistaken for the shifting cloud and vapor systems on distant planets suspended in space.
– CWT

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.