Artist Tatiana Gulenkina

Diriki, I(m)prints

Date2016

MediumDistressed cyanotype on paper

Dimensions10 × 8 in. (25.4 × 20.3 cm)

Credit LineDC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Art Bank Collection

Object numberDCCAH2018.013.1

ClassificationsPhotographs

Locations

DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (200 I Street SE)

DescriptionPortraiture has been challenging for me in a way that sometimes it’s hard to break through a glass wall when the subjects are hyper-aware of the way they present themselves. For this project, I photographed various DC creatives - artists, musicians - prompting them to relax and reflect. Photographs, especially physical prints, tend to create an illusion of holding on to certain places and people, but in our world obsessed with the image, images are easily discarded. I was drawn to working with cyanotypes because of the immediacy of the process and the texture of paper, which, unlike glossy surface, easily absorbs water and can be treated in a number of ways. By subjecting them to natural elements, I wanted to play with materiality of the medium and vulnerability of photographic memories. Diriki Gartrell is a local street/documentary photographer.