K L E A M c K E N N A   |   Web Studies   |   2013 - 2016

Unique gelatin silver photograms of rain caught in the webs of orb weaver spiders.

Web Studies is a series of silver gelatin photograms of spider webs, wet with rainwater. The majority were made on the forested slopes of Mauna Loa during visits back to the land Klea had lived on during her early childhood. These works were a “side-effect” of her time spent making Rain Studies which required waiting long hours for the elements to align (total darkness and rain).  During those slow twilight hours, McKenna observed Orb Weaver spiders building and repairing their webs in preparation for nighttime. Using photographic paper, flashlights and mylar to record these exquisitely flawed structures, McKenna considers Web Studies as a collaboration with the spiders and often worked with the same spider several nights in a row.