During my 2022 residency, I established a deeper understanding—through lived experience and consistently working in a dedicated facility for 4 weeks—of how truly precious the holographic process is in relation to change: the subtlety and sensitivity of holographic techniques requires not only patience, meticulous attention to detail, and a trial-and-error approach to troubleshooting, but also the relinquishment of total control, and an acceptance of and greater awareness for the unknown realm beyond rational comprehension, and the invisible forces impacting the work. The resulting work and this series of diffraction experiments and studies, evokes the unknown, more mysterious dynamics and symbolic aspects of light and also honors the autonomous nature of light itself.

My preoccupation with exploring the simplest, purest forms of light through analogue holography—and during this residency, through the study of diffraction gratings—speaks to my fascination with not just the physics of color and light but also the spiritual and esoteric qualities of diffraction phenomena and the geometrical language and abstract structures generated in the interference of light waves.

With this series of works I explored the ties between the “rupturing” that occurs in the diffraction or light-bending process when a wave encounters an obstacle or opening, and the emergent properties present in the birthing of light and color—made visible through my diffraction studies and the holographic process of recording raw interference patterns of electromagnetic light waves that it relies on. In this way, diffraction can also be experienced as emergence, or the birth of something new.

The Southwood Holographics AIR program is a collaboration between the HoloCenter and Southwoood Holographics. Chrissy Stuart’s residency was mentored by Melissa Crenshaw. Stay tuned for upcoming artist residencies and workshops.