A Visual Travel Diary

I can­vass city streets around the world to find inspir­ing jew­els. The man­hole cover has become my print­ing plate. Some­times I print the entire cover, and some­times I repro­duce par­tic­u­lar ele­ments from its design.

These extrap­o­lated ele­ments divorce from the cover’s orig­i­nal blue­print and tell a story. Some­times I let dirt on the man­hole cover trans­fer to the paper, leav­ing a ghostly impres­sion of the orig­i­nal design. I also con­trol an emboss­ing effect by adjust­ing the pres­sure of my hands as I press the paper against the man­hole cover.

Color ampli­fies the nar­ra­tive image and it can reflect the cul­tural envi­ron­ment of where I am work­ing. The wear of the plate exposed to the ele­ments cre­ates its own magic.

When I sign the prints, I include the exact street address, city, and coun­try in which I found it, as well as the date it was printed.