The series of photographs titled Human Nature has grown out of a lifelong interest in the relationships between time, the seasons, and photography.  These three are inextricably woven together from both a technical and metaphoric perspective.  The issues within the work are simple and yet profound for me.  Some of these are:  an awareness of the essential truth in the teachings of nature; death and life as a continuum; and the struggle between human desire and the longing for spiritual evolution.  The series Human Nature suggests that the only constant in human experience is Change. -Martha Madigan

The photographic process comprises two steps.  The image begins with a solar photogram of a figure(s) printed on a contact speed paper known as “printing-out paper.”  Secondly, the same sheet is then exposed again in the sunlight, usually days or weeks after the initial exposure.  This time foliage is placed (i.e., contact printed) around and within the figure(s).  Then the photogram is toned with gold chloride to make the image permanent and no longer sensitive to light.  This is the gold-toned printing-out-paper photogram. Some of the works of art depicted below involve a third step where the photograms were digitally altered to add color and additional imagery. These works of art are known as Type “R” color photographs.