This project is a collection of self-portrait ambrotypes through which I explore the fragility and transience of my own life and, through the wet-plate medium itself, the tension between fragility and immortality. The term “ambrotype” comes from the Greek ambrotos, which means “immortal.” Images made using this 19th century process are called ambrotypes because, once varnished, they are said to last forever. By photographic definition, however, an ambrotype is made on nothing more than a thin, delicate piece of glass. Therefore, the images themselves embody the tension between (and coexistence of) fragility and immortality.
