This project, A Place Beyond the Mountain comes from the same love of our earth. The translation of this title to Algonkian is Housatonic, a word now referring to the Housatonic River that flows through Western Massachusetts and Connecticut. The river runs through Berkshire County where I have spent most of my life. Regarded as one of the most scenic areas in the country, it is home to an abundance of wildlife and greenery. But walking along the river's edge, one finds signs warning fishermen not to eat any fish caught in the river due to the presence of PCBs. That is the only clue for those unaware of the history of something more sinister beneath the water.

My process throughout this body of work has involved research of places like Woods Pond, Silver Lake, Rising Pond, and the areas directly affected by the pollution. This has included taking samples of the water and sediment to then be used as developer for my cyanotype finals. Using pictorico to create a digital negative has allowed me to create cyanotypes of the images taken in the affected areas. The yellow-stained quality of the cyanotypes comes from a mixture of letting the cyanotype solution seep into the paper for multiple days and allowing the water to sit atop the paper during the developing process, further enforcing the idea of how dirty industry is. Each image is developed using the water collected from the place pictured, reinforcing the idea of how interconnected these places are, and the omnipresent force of PCBs in the Housatonic River.