ARTIST'S STATEMENT This work is based in the photographic process and is influenced by drawing. I scratch with a sharp tool or sandpaper directly into the emulsion of color photographic paper, which I have exposed as a photogram, without the use of a negative. The work explores mark-making, as well as the material's potential for color. The resulting pieces refer to painting and drawing, and are part of a dialogue across media. When photography was invented in the mid-1800's, it effectively freed painters from the responsibility of representation and paved the way for the modern exploration of painting materials and of the painting process. Photography today finds itself in a historically parallel moment, due to the development of digital photography. Some artists are currently investigating the fine line between fact and fiction, creating fictional "documentary" images, while others, such as myself, are expanding the notions of how photographic materials can be used, other than for strictly reproductive purposes. I have chosen to explore abstraction and each piece is unique. Color photographic paper is very limited in terms of texture and surface, but these limitations have allowed me to focus in to a territory of mark-making and color relationships that is infinite with possibilities. I am fascinated by this paradoxical experience, whereby setting strict limits creates, or reveals, more options, and allows for an expanded sense of freedom, spaciousness and limitlessness. Blending the primitive act of scratching with the technology of color photography, and collaborating with chance, has allowed my curiosity to be open to, and moved by, the unknown and the previously unseen. LAURA WULF March, 2005