Positive/Negative Multiples by Amy Heller

My new Positive/Negative Multiples series are Black & White Fine Art Archival Pigment Photographs reimagined from my original cyanotype on fabric photographs of beachcombing treasures from Cape Cod and objects from my toy collections and other collected curiosities

In 2020 artist Gail Browne and I co-authored a book, “Lost and Found, Time, Tide, and Treasures,” Schiffer Publishing, about six Provincetown artists and their beachcombing collections (I’m one of them). I photographed 500 beachcombing treasures and was inspired to make some cyanotypes on fabric with them and my “Positive/Negative Multiples” series includes some of these images, as well.

The images are digitally repeated, mirrored and inverted in a grid/checkerboard format, similar to vintage letterpress type trays that are now used for displaying objects. They harken back to cabinets of curiosities from the 16th century, and alternating negative images look like x-rays, taking on a haunting quality and suggest a mysterious past.





Amy Heller
Award-winning artist Amy Heller, originally from Washington, DC, lives year-round on Cape Cod in Massachusetts with her husband. Amy earned her B.A. in Fine Art at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, and her M.F.A. in Photography at George Washington University (GWU) in Washington, DC. She has been an exhibit specialist for Smithsonian Museums and National Gallery of Art, and a photo editor/researcher/curator for U.S. News & World Report, National Geographic, Microsoft, and the Newseum. Her work has been exhibited and collected internationally and this includes: Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dimock Gallery at GWU, and many private collections. She received the 22nd & 26th Julia Margaret Cameron Photography Awards and Exposure One Awards' 2025 Photographer of the Year People's Vote Award.
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