Rosie Gurnee

Portland, Oregon

Dearly beloved friends, occasional and long-time lovers, unknown strangers, and foreign guests- all hosts and inhabitants of these beds. The photos span the last year; most beds I slept in for at least one night. Packing to leave a hotel room I admired the linens I knew were laboriously bleached and ironed. Later I'd learn to love hanging them on the line and to hate folding the corners neatly in hostels and vacation rentals. Sitting on a mutual friends' resold furniture I can hear my friend's stream of laughter flow in chorus with my own. I remember my lovers most deeply of course, the pang is a heavy blend of lust and loss. Black & White film transfixes these feelings in a chemical process which continuously astounds me. I have a love affair with the medium. The medium does not reciprocate my feelings. Using film scans is my way of incorporating this dynamic, it's one that I feel hangs over many beds. My previous work has explored feminine rage and divinity, intimacy with strangers, and of course your run-of-the-mill snapshot diary: a silver-gelatin testament to the people and places who've touched me and to my mother's dutiful scrapbooking.