Works from Riepenhoff’s series, Littoral Drift (2013–ongoing), are large-scale dynamic cyanotypes made in collaboration with the landscape. Rather than photographing a scene with film and camera, the artist takes direct imprints from nature. After coating sheets of paper with homemade cyanotype emulsion, she exposes them to the elements, partially submerging them in ocean waves, draping them over a tree branch during a rainstorm or burying them in snow pack. Water, sunlight and sediments, such as sand, salt, detritus and impurities, activate the photosensitive chemicals to create fluid, painterly abstractions of the landscape in Prussian blue or white. The prints’ titles indicate the location, date and conditions under which they were made, anchoring each in a specific moment in time and underscoring the performative aspect of the series. Riepenhoff only partially fixes her cyanotypes, leaving residual photosensitive chemistry to react to light and the environment. A print’s colors may fluctuate in intensity or salt crystals may bloom on the surface of the paper, subtly changing the artwork over time. The shifting qualities of these “living” prints are both a desirable aesthetic outcome and reflect themes of impermanence, time and mutability that are consistent throughout Riepenhoff’s work.

Born in Atlanta, GA, Meghann Riepenhoff is an artist based in Bainbridge Island, WA and San Francisco, CA. She received a BFA in Photography from University of Georgia, Athens GA and an MFA from San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA. Her work has been exhibited internationally and nationally at the High Museum of Art (Atlanta, GA), Worcester Art Museum (Worcester, MA), Yossi Milo Gallery (NY, NY) Galerie du Monde (Hong Kong), Memphis College of Art (Memphis, TN), University of Missouri (Columbia, MO), Higher Pictures (New York, NY), San Francisco Camerawork (San Francisco, CA), Duncan Miller Gallery (Los Angeles, CA), San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery (San Francisco, CA), Foley Gallery (New York, NY), Museo de la Ciudad (Queretaro, Mexico), Photo Center Northwest (Seattle, WA), Houston Center for Photography (Houston, TX), the Center for Fine Art Photography (Ft. Collins, CO), Euqinom Projects (San Francisco, CA), San Diego State University (San Diego, CA) and the Aperture Foundation (New York, NY).