Photography Atelier

Sarah MacPhail Gosselin

Tensile Strength

Tensile Strength noun : the greatest longitudinal stress a substance can bear without tearing apart.

Over many years of tending to my garden, I have collected molted bird feathers. My collection now comprises a range of sizes, colors and patterns. I have experimented with different ways of using photography to capture their diversity, ultimately finding cyanotype printing as the most engaging way to portray these feathers. Why feathers? Because appearances can be deceiving. An object which appears tiny and delicate can turn out to be strong depending upon the stresses experienced. In my images, feathers represent a person’s inherent strength and the tension between what you show to others and your internal life. I leave it to you to find their tensile strength and your own.

Artist Bio

Sarah MacPhail Gosselin was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She attended Mount Holyoke College and studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, France She was employed as Assistant to the Director at the Griffin Museum when it was known as the Arthur Griffin Center for Photographic Art. During her employment, she had the privilege of working with museum founder Arthur Griffin and exhibiting photographers including Steve McCurry. Years after leaving the Griffin, she purchased a DLSR camera and began taking photography classes at the Arlington Center for the Arts and classes taught by Emily Belz at the Griffin Museum. Her current project is Tensile Strength, a cyanotype study of feathers.

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