Angel O’Brien • What do you see, when you see?

I really love spending my time in what feels like an artistic sandbox where I can let my creativity run wild. Collaging many photographs and often incorporating images of writing, drawings or paintings, I'm able to tell the complex stories of being a woman. I create all my photographs by hand, making one of a kind pieces with the same printing processes used by photographers in the late 1800's (platinum-palladium, gum bichromate and cyanotype methods). Some of my work also includes embroidering on the prints themselves. I see my work as playing with imagery to create often surrealistic {self} portraits that explore themes of melancholy, censorship, sight/insight/blindness, and existing in the world as a woman and mother. Though I use myself in my work, I don't really see it as necessarily self-portraiture, as these works are not meant to solely tell my story, but rather are inspired by the elements of being a woman in the world today. Please find my work at www.5x7angel.com and on Instagram @5x7angel.