Saline Art

In this series, my imagination evokes rock art creatures formed by sea salt drying over time on ferrous stones. In this intertidal universe, the sun and the tides combine to crystallize sea salt and become masters of rock art. These close-up photographs were made on the shore of the St-Lawrence River in Les Escoumins, Quebec, Canada, during a photo trip in July of 2019. Since I never planned to make such photographs (I didn't know this existed), I "discovered" such small shapes because I was attracted by their interesting texture, color and contrast. Then, I started to "see" imaginary animals like those made thousands of years ago by primitive rock artists. The first one was the horse. The second one the anemone. Then, a third one with the land snail. My imagination started to see other animals painted by the crystalized salt in a few other places. It truly was exciting. Conceptualizing such animals helped me to select the most interesting sea salt formations, and to properly frame them, especially for the orientation of the photograph.