Vanitas uses a flatbed scanner as camera to photograph small-scale environments scanned at high resolutions. The 9 x 12 inch scanning surface functions as an abridged studio space on which objects and images are composed as a "still life". I use photographic imagery as the background and layer the scanning surface with transparencies, soil, plant material and water to compose all of the visual elements in a single image. 

Influences:

Native North American art... W. H. Fox Talbot... Hubble images... Anna Atkins... Susan Derges... Robert Smithson... Andy Goldsworthy... Man Ray... Rachel Ruysch... Sfumato... Chiaroscuro... Early Dutch Masters... Doris Mitsch... Steichen... Atget... Arbus... Kandinsky... Donald Judd... Texas...

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Alison Hahn is Assistant Professor of Art at Minnesota State University, Moorhead.  She holds an MFA in Photography and Intermedia from Texas Woman's University and a BA in Art and Anthropology from the University of North Texas.  Her photographs and book art have been widely exhibited and her work is in many public and private collections, including the San Diego Art Institute.