Monique Garza-Sullivan

Polaroids capture the nostalgia and magic of serendipity. A snapshot into this complex world of suspended time and space. The digital age and analog film are colliding to create a new interaction in the conversation of contemporary photography. With innovative approaches, the enchantment of instant film is bursting with new flavors, creativity and excitement. Within this novel creativity lives the mutation of kitsch and fine art. I explore these peculiarities with an assortment of cameras, mediums and techniques.

The Polaroid series “Sunken B-Sides” began as an experimental technique of film souping. My analog B-sides created a chemical reaction within those iconic borders. Applying elements with the magic of nature, literary references and prolonged time emitted a photographic alchemy recipe of manipulation. The process yielded results that are abstract expressions which soon became a premonition of the future. The deterioration of our ways of life, social unrest and political injustices unfolding while my instant film technique decayed in lockdown period. Beginning a “Quarantine” era of my work, I am searching for sunken treasure in a sea of uncertainty. Panning for rare gold among this new frontier in the times of Corona. I believe that behind every dark cloud is a silver lining of beauty. In this new wisdom, freedom and truth work together to establish results of transformation.