Sea-lithography is a process I developed by sanding aluminum drinking cans to strip them off their industrial coating and transforming them into lithographic surfaces that can be exposed. Oil is one of the primary residues through which humans leave their trace in the world. When our bodies touch a surface, a ground, or each other, contact is established and relations are formed. In the case of water, oil not only remains the trace of touch, but the histories of encounter float on the surface of any body of water, offering a membrane that holds past experiences and occurrences that are otherwise unnoticeable to the naked eye. Sea-lithography generates a receptive membrane by binding multiple aluminum drinking cans together that can then be exposed face down on water's surface to capture the oil-based residues residing on it. Different exposures to a soft acid (following a modified kitchen lithography technique) bring out distinct oil textures on sea water. Longer etches obscure finer oil fragments whereas shorter ones grab a lot (movement, depth, grey tones). Longer exposed plates have sub-layers of oils, altering the image with each print pulled.

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The prints obtained from exposures in the Mediterranean, the Red and the Dead Sea present varying thicknesses of oil, which in turn create gradients on the plate. The salt crusts etch deeply into the metal, leaving white portions and scratches in the image. Droplets of acid sprinkle breaking points into the array of grey tones.

 

Sealithography thus means making space for these residues to hold onto the aluminum, preparing and treating the cans with care so they can reveal their treasures left is a dialogue with materials, an engagement with nature, and an attempt at nurture