An apparition in Uncertain centers on the phenomenon of the “will-o’-the-wisp” as a framework for illustrating collective and personal memory in swamped sites throughout the Southeastern US. In literature, this phenomenon indicated spirits carrying a sinister message, warning travelers to beware as they traversed into the labyrinths of green and grey under moonlight. Seeking a scientific explanation, many have attempted to recreate this occurrence to debunk such experiences. “Swamp gas,” or the formation of bio or chemiluminescence caused by decaying matter, can produce a glowing hue. However, this explanation still rests in the category of pseudoscience, living between fact and fiction. Throughout this series, the swamp becomes a vestige for illuminating consciousness and landscape memory.
In their final presentation, the works are inkjet prints that I draw and layer charcoal, bone black pigment, and microalgae, imbuing these powders into the surface of the paper. I layer and draw onto the surfaces of the print as marks of time and ebb and flow that is constant in a swamp. In my research, I traced sites from my memories as well as will-o’-the-wisp encounters in Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. Time in swamps is marked by a swallowing – vines overtake, algae mounts, objects left behind rust in the copper irrigates, and waters rise and fall absorbing matter. Deciphering these landscapes is an act of revisiting the own muck of my memory, and the memory the swamp holds.