TRANSMUNDANE

TRANSMUNDANE is infrared thermal (IRT) video and photography projects revealing the magic and fragility of human existence. In framing the luminous energy of the human body the viewer is transported to an “otherworld” space where one may sense that we are truly beings of light. TRANSMUNDANE merges my fascination with the human body and spirit, and imaging technology, by using extremely heat sensitive infrared thermal imaging to reference the magic and fragility of human existence. An infrared thermal (IRT) video pioneer since 1995, I began making the 'Transmundane' artveillance video series in 2018. In stark black and white experimental films and digital photography I have filmed the emotions and events of human life cycles, landscapes, intimacy, a live hospital birth, breast feeding, the hormonal change of Menopause, and implied death, and transformation.

Depicting actual luminous bodily energy by using eerie black and white infrared thermal imaging technology associated with military or surveillance, this heat-sensitive medium allows one to witness actual heat signatures unseen by the human eye. Visible light cameras read 400–700 nanometer range, infrared cameras see wavelengths up to 14,000 nm. IRT measures energy striking a surface, thus heat appears white, and cold or wet objects are black, detailing subtle radiant energy of objects in real time. Surveillance cameras and rifle scopes are the means of digital image capture for this surreal aesthetic. Thermal imaging shows inanimate objects, landscapes and people to have seemingly “negative film” qualities, possessing glowing transparency while maintaining surface reflections.

The eerie beauty of heat signatures occurring around and within us is arresting, one may sense our ancient stellar origins. As Carl Sagan said “we are made of star stuff.” To witness our own energy is to accept the fragility of our existence, and the magic of the transmundane- that which lies in the celestial and beyond.