corporeal form of angels

Friday morning, as a test for the final project I did with my campers from the Museum of Photographic Arts, I made a life size photogram of myself on coated muslin. I painted the muslin with cyanotype solution, and when it was dry, ran out to my front yard, threw it on the grass, and threw myself down on top of it. The fabric was still damp, and bunched in places, and I was not able, by myself, to keep some of the surface from getting fogged.
Laying the the grass, on this cloth, I watched until the sun had turned it a deepest blue. Then quickly I ran with it into the bathtub, and washed out the remaining chemicals.
The image, with all it's techincal flaws, was still very beautiful to me. I brought it with me to a meeting I had the the Salvation Army DHQ. The women there were also interested in the image, and decded that it looked like an angel. And there was something about the image that made it look as though it were leaving the surface of the cloth, ascending.

Early Saturday morning I had a terrible call from home. It is times like this when I solidly feel how far away I am from my family. My cousin has died. Unexpectedly and by himself. My mother relayed messages to me throughout the day, giving me the details as they were given to her. The image that struck me was that his parents had found his body, and the dog was waiting there with him.

later when I was putting away my projects from the week, I layed out the self-portrait I had made on my bed. There it was this same body, but now it was also referencing a chalk outline, the life size record that a corporeal body had existed there.

Today I made a few more image, throwing myself down on the muslin and waiting until the sunlight fixes my image. I am trying to experiement how to stitch and alter the surface to hold on to the duality of a body transcending/ascending. To make the viewer unsure of which way this form is appraoching the surface of the cloth.

The project, which was initially for the students, has held on in my thoughts.