Artist Statement: "Entanglement" metaphorically investigates America’s current housing inequities resulting from a history of discriminatory 'redlining' of city boundaries by banks and lenders in the mid-1930’s through the late 1960’s. Government financial agencies and lenders had labeled non-whites as financial ‘risks’, denying them mortgages in more desirable neighborhoods, thus severely limiting minorities of their future financial growth in real estate equity. Less desirable areas of cities had redlined map boundaries indicating that these were places that were preferred for minority ownership.
I utilize hand-woven cyanotype prints of a WWII-era practice bombing range photographed with expired film, some of which have been enhanced with hand-sewn red lines. These photomontages act to both reveal and conceal an urban landscape with its contrasting underdeveloped boundaries to underscore the complexity of land use. The decaying photographic film, in conjunction with the nuances of a historic cyanotype printing process, mirrors the deterioration of this decommissioned military site as well as the transformation of historical land ownership policies. Beneath the barbed wire there is currently decades old, unexploded ordnance, a hidden danger similar to how the subtle shifts in bureaucratic policies unseen from public scrutiny have silently affected society.
Artist Bio: Douglas Stockdale (American) is a visual artist, science-geek and a Critical Mass 2023 and 2024 Finalist. His work speaks broadly about issues of memory, the passing of time, society, mental health and the environment.
He has been published or self-published in seven books and featured in numerous others, and his artwork is in the permanent collections of Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma, San Telmo Museo, Reminders Photobook Library (Tokyo), Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library (Yale University), Frick Fine Arts Library (University of Pittsburgh), and Malcolm A. Love Library, Special Collections (San Diego State University). He has been featured in numerous articles in conjunction with his solo and group exhibitions.
He uses a variety of mediums depending on his artistic concepts, including expired 120 film, digital photography, alternative photography (primarily cyanotype), and will incorporate the use of multi-media to further develop his visual narratives.
Stockdale is the on the adjunct faculty of the Los Angeles Center of Photography (LACP), Medium Photo and Southeast Center for Photography (SEC4P). He received a BS in Industrial Design form Michigan State University and an MBA from University of La Verne. He lives in southern California where he is the Senior Editor & founder of PhotoBook Journal, the contemporary photobook review magazine and the Executive Director of the Photographers Exchange of Southern California. www.douglasstockdale.com IG @douglasstockdale
Photo Process: My process for this project starts with the use of expired 120 film to photograph a local urban landscape that borders on a WWII practice bombing range by the US Navy. This decommissioned military site has buried Unexploded Military Ordnance (UXO) that includes dormant practice bombs and rockets. My next-door neighbor found one of the WWII practice bombs last year while planting a tree in her front yard that required the police bomb disposal squad to remove it.
After film development, the negatives are professionally scanned, which I later upload into Photoshop to create digital contact negatives for subsequent printing of my cyanotypes. I have previously created a contrast adjustment curve in Photoshop to compensate for my cyanotype printing process using my LED UV printer, Overhead Projection (OHP) film, cyanotype chemicals and the hot press cotton rag that I use. I have developed a specific contrast adjustment curve for each combination.
The cyanotype printing process requires that a contact negative printed on OHP Film the same size as the print. I hand-coat each sheet of hot press cotton rag using a classic combination of the cyanotype chemicals to sensitize my paper for UV exposure (printing).
I use a classic cyanotype printing process to make the prints which will be combined to create a photomontage. For my exhibition print, I have woven together two different prints creating a mosaic pattern as a photomontage. I subsequently intervene with a hand-sewn representative red line that includes some embroidery French knots to help create my visual narrative.
