K r ist e n R e ga n by Steven Gray
Describe your work or style: Over the years I have enjoyed working with organic materials to create still lifes to investigate photography with a scientific curiosity. My newest series “Plastisphere” expands on this theme by creating still life sculptures from discarded plastic to question a culture of consumerism and sustainability.
What kind of equipment do you use? What’s your process? Digital? Analog? Why? I like to experiment with different mediums and methods of presentation to bridge the gap between traditional photography and other forms of artistic expression. I enjoy shooting film but recently my work has transformed into digital composites. Ultimately a body of work will dictate the medium that is used, sometimes evolving throughout the series. My latest series began as sculptural pieces that I photographed and then manipulated in Photoshop. I recently used the wet plate collodion process to make direct images of the plastic sculptures. This historic photographic process involves coating a glass or metal plate with a viscous solution and submerging it in silver nitrate to sensitize it to light, exposing the plate and finally hand pouring developer to create a unique tintype. I may incorporate additional analog processes into my work if it fits the concept.
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Kristen Regan received a Master of Fine Art degree at Savannah College of Art and Design and a Bachelor of Fine Art degree in Photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Over the years travel has been a driving force in her work. She has traveled extensively through Europe as well as to India, Egypt and Venezuela and is currently an Associate Professor of
Photography at Pensacola State College. Her work has been published in national publications as well as numerous photographic catalogs. She has had multiple solo and two-person exhibitions and her photographs have been featured in galleries in Puerto Rico, New York, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Colorado and Louisiana.
You use a variety of unique materials in your work. How are you inspired to incorporate these elements? Does the concept come first or the materials? I was motivated to create the "Plastisphere" series after watching a video of plankton eating microplastics proving that tiny bits of plastic have been introduced into our food chain through bioaccumulation. After researching plankton, I was inspired by the stunning delicate structures to create my own interpretation of these creatures using plastic. During weekly beach cleanups with Ocean Hour, I collected discarded bottles and used a blowtorch to melt the plastic. The thin translucent plastic looked like liquid glass, and I fell in love with the new delicate sculptural qualities of the transformed bottles. The resulting pieces were shot on a black background with a ring light to emulate the look of scientific slides of plankton specimens. In the past, I have worked intuitively but recently I started conceptually and allowed the process of working with the materials to inform the final product.
Ctenophora Aquafinas 20" x 20"
Much of your work seems to have a connection to scientific, environmental or political concepts and issues. Tell me how these topics inspire you. Plastic pollution has become a global epidemic with more than eight million metric tons entering the world’s seas every year and I am passionate about minimizing my impact on the environment. Ocean Hour is a non-profit dedicated to weekly cleanups of local beaches and waterways. I enjoy attending cleanups and I encourage others to
Eviana Aurelia 20" x 20"
