Pushing the boundaries of printmaking, I am constantly developing new ways to size, manipulate, layer, and blend my photos in Adobe Photoshop to create depth, perspective, texture and lighting similar to that of classical mediums. I developed a process that I refer to as contemporary printmaking. Every element in my compositions, from the tiniest flowers to the contour of the landscape, is a photograph--sometimes 40 or more individual photographs--that I took, prepared and positioned on a digital canvas. The physical artwork is a pigment ink print on a fine art watercolor rag.
My collection of thousands of images I've taken represents thousands of moments across time and space as I traveled in search of answers I believed I would find only far outside of human constructs. As my exploration progressed, it wasn't enough for me to capture reality; I was compelled to interpret it. Even as I was processing a massive volume of new information about the world and aggregating it toward my own survival, I began aggregating the camera's snapshots of reality to represent a new reality that would transcend the time and space in which I felt myself limited.
To deconstruct one of my photo compositions is to unearth the artifacts of my past. Close examination of these artworks in my chosen medium is a sort of archaeological dig. Under the surface are discoveries that can inform our view of those who experience American society as a set of constructs designed to keep them relegated to the margins.
Rebirth of the Business District, Archival Pigment Print (Photo Composition), 18 inches by 32 inches, Rose Anderson, 2017. This composition shows the Broom Factory on the Canton waterfront in Baltimore City, at the site of the former Canton Plantation.
The Wren Sings a Hymn in the Forest, Archival Pigment Print (Photo Composition), 24 inches by 36 inches, Rose Anderson, 2018. This composition incorporates my photo of the burned-out ruin of the Pentacostal Church in the ghost town of Daniels, now part of Patapsco State Park. The stained glass is from The Sanctuary at Long Calm.
Formerly Cathedral Street, Archival Pigment Print (Photo Composition), 24 inches by 36 inches, Rose Anderson, 2017. The composition features two photos of gothic churches in Baltimore City.
The Pylons Still Stood, Archival Pigment Print (Photo composition), 24 inches by 32 inches, Rose Anderson, 2018. The pylons stand between the ruins of the forced labor ironworks industrial complex and the Altvater tobacco plantation near The Sanctuary at Long Calm.