Lost and Found
2025
54 in. x 75 in.
Cyanotype on Fabric
In this project, Peyton explores the relationship between photography, fabric, and domestic space through cyanotype-printed textiles. By transferring photographic imagery onto fabric, Peyton moves the photograph beyond the traditional paper print and into materials associated with comfort, protection, and the body. The work centers around a quilt and bed-based installation composed of cyanotype fabrics and pillows. Quilts historically function as objects of care, labor, and memory within domestic spaces. By embedding photographic images within these textiles, Peyton transforms the quilt into a surface that carries both image and physical presence, allowing photography to exist as something that can fold, drape, and occupy space.
The photographic subjects within the quilt are objects collected from lost and found spaces. These items, once owned, used, and misplaced—carry traces of absence and unknown narratives. Removed from their original context, they exist in a state between belonging and abandonment. By photographing these objects and translating them into cyanotypes on fabric, Peyton emphasizes their quiet presence while acknowledging the anonymous histories attached to them. The cyanotype process further reinforces these ideas of memory and trace. Because the images are created through direct exposure to light, the process highlights material interaction, chance, and imperfection. The deep blue tones of cyanotype evoke a sense of distance and time, allowing the objects to appear as impressions or remnants rather than straightforward documentation.
Through the combination of photography, fabric, and installation, Peyton investigates how ordinary objects can carry emotional and psychological weight. The quilt becomes both a photographic surface and a symbolic structure—one that holds fragments of lost belongings and the unseen stories attached to them, while connecting themes of absence, memory, and domestic space.
