Patmos
Cyanotype on dyed fabric
18 x 14 inches

This series of cyanotypes is based on close-up photographs of the period at the end of the final verse of “Patmos,” a hymn that the German Romantic poet Friedrich Hölderlin wrote toward the end of his life. Titled after the Greek island where Saint John wrote the Book of Revelation, “Patmos” was completed in 1803, around the same time that Hölderlin sent his translations of Sophocles and Pindar out for publication. I worked with collections of Hölderlin’s poems in the original German and in English and Spanish translation.