Ode to the Blue Forest
Cyanotype Photograms
The giant kelp forests off the Southern California coastline are the cornerstone of the coastal marine ecosystem, creating habitat to support hundreds of species and playing a critical regulatory role.
Sensitive to changing ocean conditions, particularly temperature, anthropogenic impacts and warming waters are challenging its environmental tolerance.
These underwater forests have ebbed and flowed in size and density for decades, but are currently in a state of decline following the record marine heatwaves of the past decade. Globally, kelp forests are critical to the maintenance of biodiversity and mitigation of climate impacts on coastal areas, but face challenges as the impact of humanity marches onwards.
Oriana Poindexter’s Blue Forest works are created in collaboration with the sun and sea.
Drawn deep into the kelp forests off California’s coastline, Oriana free dives on a single breath of air to collect her subjects, specimens of kelp, algae, or marine debris. She then creates unique visual records of her collections using historical camera-less alternative photographic processes, primarily cyanotype. Each piece is a record of the species at that time and place, adding to our understanding of the state of underwater biodiversity as it evolves.
Giant Kelp Study 18, Horseshoe Beach, February 22, 2022 (50" x 38", Unique cyanotype on paper).
Giant Kelp Holdfast Study 2, Boomer's Beach, March 11, 2022 (24" x 18", Unique cyanotype on paper).
Giant Kelp Study 5, Point La Jolla, October 2021 (30" x 22", , Unique cyanotype on paper, Private Collection).
Surfgrass Study 9, Shell Beach, February 10, 2023 (Four panels simultaneously exposed, each 18" x 24", Unique cyanotype on paper).
Giant Kelp Canvas Study 5, Point La Jolla, October 9, 2022 (58" x 120", , Unique cyanotype on canvas, Private Collection).
Giants of Point Loma Installation, Garibaldi Restaurant at InterContinental San Diego. Two columns of life-size giant kelp cyanotypes, each 180" x 76", originals made on paper, then digitized to vinyl for permanent outdoor installation.
The Process
Oriana began experimenting with cyanotype nearly a decade after she learned to print black & white film images in the darkroom. Her training spans marine science, photography and free diving, all of which are integral to this working process.
Liberated from the confines of darkness and the limits of film negatives and enlargers, the cyanotype process allows Oriana to record her subject, the giant kelp forests and associated seaweeds, directly, at life-size, and outdoors.
Each image is made with non-toxic chemistry, responsibly foraged seaweeds, sun, and water - creating a record of the species at that moment in space and time, a fixed data point in the face of shifting climate.
Image by Heidi Zumbrun
Contact Oriana
Email
studio@orianapoindexter.com
Phone
(949) 436-1051
Location
San Diego, CA