Ephemeral Figures

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Penny studies the delicacy of the female form, reflecting on our self-acceptance as we age.

She hopes to cast aside culture’s definition of beauty and celebrate the eternal essence shining through from within. Photographic prints of female figures are exposed to fresh rainwater, which “paints” ethereal bursts and waves across each image. Finally, the ephemeral moments are preserved with a thin layer of beeswax. Each is a unique, fleeting figure expressed in layered moments of color, water and time.

Working with as many as 30 photographic prints at a time, Penny allows rainwater to fall gently onto each one, drop by drop. As the water spreads across the porous paper, it “paints” ethereal bursts and watercolor-like waves across the translucent figure. Some of the photographs she immerses in rain streaming from her tin roof or bathes them in fresh puddles until the ink surges, blending skin-tone pigments with vibrant indigo background hues. At various moments throughout the process, she photographs each rain-morphed print as it reaches its aesthetic peak: perhaps before it fades in the sun, or after several water droplets have re-drawn the figurative image, or just as the print is placed into a fresh puddle —moments before the gossamer image disappears or disintegrates. Each image is unique and original, and each is a fleeting figure caught in the tension between beauty and brevity, expressed in layered moments of color, water, and time.