Invited by the Hudson River Museum, Ann Rosenthal and Steffi Domike selected postcards from the museum’s historic postcard collection that would tell an interesting story, where the juxtaposition of people and place was evocative. The artists learned more about what the postcards revealed from an historian who worked with the museum. The artists sought out the locations depicted in the postcards and recreated similar scenes, then digitally colored the images to have the same romantic aura as the original postcards. In parallel, they soaked cotton cloth in the river near each location (either the Hudson or Saw Mill River). This staining of the cloth told another story—suggesting the human impact on these waterways.
Photo credit: Ann Rosenthal & Steffi Domike, “River Vernacular.” Permission and images provided by the artists.