Spinning Away is the culmination of my days (2023-2024) spent on the northern coast of Portugal collaborating with the sun, wind, water, and earth. Twice a week, between late spring and early fall, I visited the same beaches to forage algae and capture their ephemeral movements through the cyanotype process. Guided by tide charts and wind patterns, I chose days to forage, expose prints under the sun, and develop them in the sea. This practice became both an art form and a meditative ritual, a means of de-centering myself to honor other life forms and their fleeting beauty. 

The process of creating burial quilts from these cyanotype prints reflects a deeper meditation on the death/desire relationship. The cyclical rhythms of tides and algae life cycles mirrored the cycles of human-environmental interaction—human diversion and exploitation, environmental resilience and renewal. As I worked, I witnessed the impact of pollution and the persistent, fragile balance of coastal ecosystems. Stitching these prints into quilts evokes the act of mourning, a reverent acknowledgment of life’s impermanence and the yearning to preserve and cherish what is inevitably lost.

These burial quilts serve as both memorials and reflections on our mystical transience, urging viewers to consider their own connection to the natural world. They stand as reminders that, like the tides, our lives are both fleeting and deeply interwoven with the rhythms of the earth.