The Disappearance of the Schooner Reverie, 2023
The Disappearance of the Schooner Reverie follows a woman’s attempt to connect with the missing crew of a commercial schooner lost during a winter storm on Lake Erie in November 1893. Using fabricated photographic imagery and a format that blends invented details with the appearance of archival material, the project considers how histories are constructed and understood. Themes of loss, grief, dreams, clairvoyance, and the supernatural are used to examine how meaning is shaped in the absence of verifiable evidence, drawing attention to the roles of speculation, interpretation, and constructed realities.
Drawing from the long and curious history of spirit photography, Reverie leans into the mystery and allure of the supernatural. Beginning in the mid-19th century, spirit photography emerged alongside the Spiritualism movement as an attempt to make contact with the unseen and to close the distance between the living and the dead. These images inspired both wonder and doubt: believers viewed them as proof of an afterlife and a way to commune with lost loved ones, while skeptics dismissed them as clever illusions or technical mishaps of early photography.
Women were central to this practice, often serving as mediums who guided spiritual encounters and made the appearance of spirits possible. Their presence shaped séances and spiritualist circles, placing them in positions of authority that quietly pushed against the gender norms of the time. Reverie draws on this legacy, echoing the visual language of early spirit photography while blending historical processes with contemporary approaches, creating work that feels suspended between past and present.
Drawing from the long and curious history of spirit photography, Reverie leans into the mystery and allure of the supernatural. Beginning in the mid-19th century, spirit photography emerged alongside the Spiritualism movement as an attempt to make contact with the unseen and to close the distance between the living and the dead. These images inspired both wonder and doubt: believers viewed them as proof of an afterlife and a way to commune with lost loved ones, while skeptics dismissed them as clever illusions or technical mishaps of early photography.
Women were central to this practice, often serving as mediums who guided spiritual encounters and made the appearance of spirits possible. Their presence shaped séances and spiritualist circles, placing them in positions of authority that quietly pushed against the gender norms of the time. Reverie draws on this legacy, echoing the visual language of early spirit photography while blending historical processes with contemporary approaches, creating work that feels suspended between past and present.
Part I The Disappearance
Part II The Medium Makes Contact
Part III The Ascension
