Pavement Poppies, 2025.

Petals of bright red poppies and their textured leaves sit in split sidewalk cracks near a storm drain and abandoned crate. Deep grays with red embroidered poppy inserts.

Tactile “swell” paper, copy paper, acrylic paint, adhesive, bookbinding thread, canvas on wood frame.
12" x 24” x 1.5”

”Pavement Poppies” is part of the “Utility & Beauty” series, 2025.

What grows in sidewalk cracks creates navigation obstacles as well as emergent beauty. Humans use concrete as canvas, leaving our marks carved and painted. I like tangible contrasts between organic bodies and manufactured surfaces. I photograph the utility and beauty I find on the ground. These red poppies grow outside a neighbor’s house. This broken crate had been left on a nearby corner. I print my photos with a capsule “swell” printer, applying heat to create raised lines. “Swell printing” is a tactile printing process, primarily used for instructional materials for people who are blind and partially sighted. I apply this disability access tool artistically, with attention to what I want to examine more closely and what’s found along local, urban pathways.