If interested in this print framed, please contact hello@wassaicproject.org.
7 layers variable edition, glow in the dark ink on Arches 88, 2026, Variable Edition of 22, 22.5 in x 27.5 in, Printed by McKinzie Trotta
Liz Nielsen was first shown at Wassaic Project’s 2020-2021 Winter Exhibition All Out/All In. Since then, Nielsen has received grants from the New York State Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts to create a public art installation in Wassaic Project's Gridley Chapel, Crystalline Resonance.
Crystalline Resonance and this print, Giving You the Moon, expands on Nielsen’s previous work with photograms, one of photography’s earliest techniques. In the darkroom, Nielsen creates richly layered compositions by blocking sections of photo-sensitive paper with hand cut shapes and exposing the paper to various wavelengths of found light. Nielsen has spent over two decades evolving this singular process that she likens to “painting with light.”
In Giving You the Moon, Nielsen transforms the careful planning of the photograms into a print recalling the phenomena of Earth’s topographies such as glaciers, mountains, and moons. Built from timeless shapes including circles, triangles, and squares, the figures suggest benevolent visitors, guardians, or beings composed entirely of light.
Bio
Liz Nielsen (b. 1975) is a Hudson Valley, New York–based artist, photographer, and educator known for redefining camera-less photography. Working with photograms, one of photography’s earliest processes, she creates luminous, one-of-a-kind images in the analog color darkroom through a method she calls “light painting,” layering colored light onto photosensitive materials to produce works that balance precision and spontaneity.
Nielsen's vibrant compositions range from intimate to monumental in scale, exploring themes of duality, perception, and transformation while bridging art and science. Nielsen has presented solo exhibitions at Miles McEnery Gallery (New York), Black Box Projects (London), SOCO Gallery (Charlotte), and Hexton Gallery (Aspen). Her 2026 projects include Art Everywhere at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Manifestations of the Voyage at Grand Central Madison, and Crystalline Resonance at the Wassaic Project.
Her work has been featured in Artforum, The New Yorker, The Financial Times, and The New York Times. A recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and New York State Council on the Arts, she holds degrees from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago. She served as the Georgette and Richard Koopman Distinguished Chair in Photography at Hartford Art School for the 2025–2026 academic year.
