Meghann Riepenhoff at the Rencontres d'Arles

My earliest memories are from the shore, where water and land met and moved each other. The sea seemed beautiful and dangerous, vast, and yet intimately connected to my very being. Before I knew I was made of water, water seemed to know me.

This exhibition stems from my fascination with the nature of our relationships to the landscape, the sublime, time, and impermanence. I work collaboratively with the environment, making large-scale, cameraless cyanotypes through direct contact with the landscape. The elements that I employ in the process—rain, waves, ice, topographies, wind, and sediment—leave physical inscriptions through direct contact with photographic materials. Photochemically, the pieces are never wholly processed; they will continue to slowly respond to the changing environments that they encounter over time. Each cyanotype is like a fingerprint, recording the specific nature of environments impacted by human interventions.

Upwelling is an oceanic process where waves, wind, and the earth’s rotation move cold, nutrient-rich water to the surface, fertilizing the waters and generating productive marine ecosystems. Upwelling is also a term used to describe a momentous building and growth, usually of emotional states or political movements.