Marita Gootee

"My elementary school teacher, Ms. Fry made a passing comment that has kept with me. She said that we will never really know who we are and will spend a lifetime searching for who we are. I doubt that she thought much of such a statement - but it lodged in my mind permanently. My artwork is a constant search for self from my early crayon-colored rocks to today’s fine art photographic work. My art is my way of attempting to understand myself and the world around me."

Artist Statement

The Last Contact a series that expresses the imprint of change onto our material processing society. The images are lumen photograms which are created by exposing objects in direct contact with traditional photographic paper that have been exposed to daylight between hours to months. This series is a commentary on the pandemic and what climate change is doing to the planet. The Last Contact series takes a piece of a living plant through a journey to decay. The imagery is created by being trapped and exposed to nature with no escape; just as the subject caught within the contact frame. Humans have ignored science and as such have laid the species bare to elements as it watches itself die.