This body of work is a tribute to the stuffed animals and toys that my children adore. They give their toys identity, personality, and life by christening them with specific names and loving them as if they were real. The portraits are made using the 19th century wet plate collodion process. Historically, the process was used to make portraits commemorating soldiers leaving home to fight in the American Civil War. In the spirit of portraiture that memorialized soldiers embarking upon a bleak journey to an imminent fate, I am honoring the inanimate loved ones my children cherish now but who will ultimately make their own journey to a bag of items in the basement, destined for donation.
