You know the feeling of sitting on the shore of the ocean while the waves roll in to kiss your legs and you feel like you could just drift off from reality? That peaceful (or tortuous, if you hate the ocean) moment is both the inspiration and process for Meghann Riepenhoff’s work, Littoral Drift Nearshore. 

Littoral Drift is influenced by Riepenhoff’s interest in the intersection of nature, time, impermanence, and the Sublime. The works in this series truly are action works in nature, where the process is not rooted in the traditional role of the camera but rather uses the sun and movement of the world to form the images. To create the series, Riepenhoff coated large paper in the cyanotype emulsion, a mixture of iron salts and potassium ferricyanide, which creates a deep Prussian blue color when exposed to light. The papers are then laid on the shore of the ocean where the sunlight deepens the blue hues and the water washes away parts of the emulsion, leaving white silhouettes where it has touched the paper. Riepenhoff does not fix the prints completely, as most artists would, washing away the remaining emulsion, but rather allows the prints to continue to shift and change over time. Without a camera, she creates these literal prints of the landscape. She also re-photographs the works after they are created, allowing them to be captured in time rather than ephemeral.

While the processes are similar, the place can change the result and meaning of the work. The full title of this work is Littoral Drift Nearshore #209 (Springridge Road, Bainbridge Island, WA 02.12.15, Fletcher Bay Water Poured and Fletcher Bay and Fay Bainbridge Silt Scattered). As indicated by the title, it was created on Bainbridge Island in Washington, USA, using water from Fletcher Bay. The silt or fine sand and clay from the area create lighter shapes by blocking some of the light. Each print is completely unique, a real portrait in time of a landscape that is constantly changing. The results are completely unpredictable (aside from the blue color) and usually end up looking like an abstract work of art by Jackson Pollock. A collaborative work between artist and nature, Littoral Drift will transport you straight to the shore.