1980

Martinique

American, born 1946

Bea Nettles was one of a group of photographers working in the 1970s who were interested in experimenting with new materials and different processes. Very often, this included using art-making techniques once associated with women: sewing, stitching, quilting, dyeing, collaging, pleating, and diary-keeping. Although the artist first made the images with a camera, adding these different techniques turned them into unique and delicate objects that often do not look like photographs at all. This picture, Martinique, is a self-portrait of Nettles with her young daughter, Rachel.