Elizabeth Di Donna
Darwinian DreamRecurring DreamConfluenceSteepheadTree at Red HillsWater and StoneGeophagyCompose/ComposureCompose/Composure (Three Views)Be Like WaterA Bit of Earth (after The Secret Garden)
Performative Self-Portraits
An ongoing series of photographic portraits using raw clay to describe time, memory and a physical experience of the material world.

I began using the camera to explore clay in its natural, mutable state to create an experience of clay as a vibrant material. Photography opens a window into a realm of fantasy and make-believe and presenting clay within this world transforms it from tangible to enigmatic.

Site-specific works provide a context to reenact or reinterpret a history of a place, our emotional attachment to it or loss of it (even a physical bonding with it).

The sites I choose relate to the movements of earth by water, reflecting the process by which clay is made. I've been excavating clay by hand from a local creek bed and have used this “native material” in making and firing objects that serve as an indexical point for a specific geographical location — a place from my experience. These sites also serve as performance events in and of themselves.