Now I Go to Nature

Erin Ashford (b.1977) is a photographic artist based in Santa Cruz. Her process typically starts with a camera. In her youth, she struggled with words so sharing images became the way she learned to communicate. Her mixed media artworks are long-form love letters to the people she makes work with using darkroom techniques from her classical training as a photographer and many other mediums. She uses video created during the process, audio recordings, and photography of the pieces made with her subjects to inform the process. She is drawn to changing elements like light, water and sun to help guide the creation process. This keeps her alert, calm and hopeful that things will continue to evolve. To reveal this evolution, many layers are applied over and over again as an act of honoring the memories experienced during the exposures.