Cabinet Cards
The cabinet card was an early and widely used form of portrait photography. First introduced in the 1860’s, dominating portrait photography for over 30 years. Consisting of a thin photograph mounted on cards, this early form of portraiture documented cultural transitions of the 19th century including the shift to modernity and developing/performing personal, national, and racial identities.
In this series, the cabinet card is utilized as a source material and framework, serving both as a metaphorical and physical ground in the construction of collages and drawings. The collage elements are taken from a 1977 Ebony Magazine, mixing and indexing hybrid intentional identities transcending and shifting through time and popular material culture. The drawing incorporates both additive and subtractive processes, creating compositional/narrative tensions and interventions.