The Ties that Bind

Project Statement

The Ties that Bind is a photographic meditation on community, connection, and place. Through the historic cyanotype process, these images are transformed—stripped of color, reduced to luminous blue, and stitched together as a banner that speaks to our shared humanity. Once an early photographic technique, cyanotypes later became the foundation for architectural blueprints. In this work, I reclaim that function, treating the cyanotype as a metaphor—a blueprint for community building. As each image dissolves into shades of blue, differences soften, and commonalities emerge, revealing the quiet yet enduring ties that bind us together.

Suspended in space, this banner becomes both an invocation and a testament—an artifact of interconnection, resilience, and the strength found in togetherness. In a time when division threatens the fabric of our communities, The Ties that Bind stands as both a remembrance and a call to action, urging us to nurture unity, practice collective care, and recognize the enduring power of belonging. As the hymn echoes, "Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in [love]," this work embodies that sacred connection—a visual chorus of the unseen bonds that hold us together.