DM Witman, #00134 Scirpus cyperinus, gum bichromate, gouache, gold leaf, kitakata, on Rives BFK, 25.75 x 19.75 inches

Work From Index.

With Index, I draw upon my past experiences as a field biologist to process grieving around the impending loss we are facing as the result of climate change. These photograms serve as a record for what once was of the flora of a small patch of intertidal marsh of the St. George River. Reminiscent of herbarium records, the flora are memorialized and serve as a baseline against the impending change of increasing temperatures and rising waters. My small area of intertidal marsh will not be spared and will bear impact of these changes.

Regarding memento mori, Geoffrey Batchen noted,“…Such objects seek to remember a loved one, not as someone now dead, but as someone who was once alive, young and vital, with a future before them. In this kind of object, they will always have that future, a comforting thought, perhaps, for those who have been left behind.”

It is my hope that art such as this can serve as a conduit for a collective experience to develop a stronger sense of love and commitment to the places, the systems, the flora & fauna that inspire, nurture, and sustain us. -DM

DM Witman is a trandisciplinary artist navigating the polycrisis employing photographic materials, video, and installation. Her practice investigates climate disruption–at the intersection of presence/absence, resiliency, and ecology–relying on both archival impulses and ephemerality. Her creative practice is an act of bearing witness, memorial, and synthesizing that which is existentially urgent–at once both a lament for what has been lost, and a call to action to cultivate care and resilience as stewards for what remains.