Artifacts
Mark creates photographic portals to the people, relationships, and memories that shape our lives.
Through Refractive Alchemy, he brings the past into the present by photographing meaningful artifacts.
Childhood memory and wonder
Every five year old knows objects have a life of their own. Kids live in a world where a plastic ray-gun and an afternoon in the backyard are a ticket to adventure on a distant planet.
Mark created Refractive Alchemy as a Covid project to reconnect with childhood memory and wonder, awakening the life within the creatures and objects of his home.
Refractive Alchemy
Mark’s signature method of subverting the optical tools of photography to create an in-camera photograph that transmutes the ordinary to reveal deeper meaning.
Every image in this series existed in the real world as seen through the optics of a camera at a single moment in time.
Art that keeps your story close
Each photograph is layered with detail unique to the individual and crafted with elegance as a personalized doorway to treasured memories.
Honor someone you love and miss, reconnect with cherished memories, or celebrate a relationship.
Photographic art created exclusively for you
It starts with a phone conversation to discover the relationship, memory, or loved one at the heart of your story.
There is no cost to have your artifact photographed and no obligation to purchase the artwork.
The process
Together with Mark, you select the connecting artifact.
Mark photographs it and creates your artwork.
You and your partner come to Mark’s Los Angeles studio to experience your unveiling.
Mark’s earlier work, books, and exhibitions are part of a photographic career that began in 1989.