(WHEN THE DUST SETTLES)

Authors

Dominique F. Ellis, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

First Advisor

Dana Fritz

Second Advisor

Walker Pickering

Committee Members

Katie Anania, Margaret Bohls, Jesse Fleming, Walker Pickering

Date of this Version

Spring 4-11-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Citation

A thesis presented to the faculty of the Graduate College of the University of Nebraska in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts

Major: Art

Under the supervision of Professor Dana Fritz

Lincoln, Nebraska, April 2025

Comments

Copyright © 2025, Dominique F. Ellis. Used by permission

Abstract

I use photography to explore absence, where sediment in melting ice helps create a visual record of the ice’s existence. I begin by harvesting ice from nearby Antelope Creek, transporting it to the studio, and placing it on photo-sensitive paper or film. The natural traces of dust frozen in the water remain visible on the surfaces after the ice melts. Ice thus becomes an entropic medium to index, translate, and record what is left behind when the ice melts, water evaporates, and floods subside in the midst of drought conditions.

I have developed two techniques, cryogrammetry and cryography, to visualize and measure ice melt. A cryogram is a photogram made with ice, where the ice rests on photo-senstive material that when exposed to light makes a direct and indexical impression. A cryograph is a record of the sediment left behind after the frozen sample evaporates on a transparent film or surface. Through this “cryology”, I present localized ice melt in 1:1 scale photograms and enlarged photographic prints that evoke geologic forms and glacial melting.

Using photography – a medium that typically demands physical subjects –these experiments chronicle what is disappearing in front of our eyes. In my novel lexicon of ice related language, ice acts as a model for glacial melting, and glacial melting stands as a signifier for climate emergency. The gallery installation extends this “reading” of ice – it is inspired by a hydrograph, which has two measurements of water levels for the same dataset. It presents twoscales of measurement, where the viewer navigates between micro and macro abstractions. The exhibition title implies the impossibility of a future climate, when everything will be okay or return to a state of stasis.

Advisor: Dana Fritz