Sprawl 2020
Digitized Mordencage Composition printed on Coated Aluminum 20 x 30 inches     My photographs are an expansion of a traditional documentary account of recorded time. Within the photograph, the viewer witnesses the idea of a space manipulated over time with varying methods. The landscapes that I create reference a particular space in the geography between fact and fiction; between representational and expressive. Through mixing the recognizably natural effects of wet chemical manipulation and the seamless transitions of digital combination, the subsequent landscapes span the timeline of photographic methods and materials. Within the compositions of seemingly biological ebbs and swirls, something is gained. The viewer finds nearly impossible connections bridging the analog and digital. Also apparent to the viewer is the repetition of the seemingly unique spill, the sprawl of the artificial, the digital world trying to take over the chemical light sensitivity. The work aims to play in this liminal space between the depiction of reality and the actuality of it. It aims to create a haven for the digital and analog to coexist and create an optimistic world of its own.     Tessa Stewart (b. 1995) creates work that expands upon the duration of a single photographic event. She lives and works in Philadelphia, PA.