Crossing is a mordançage print. Mordançage is a darkroom process where a finished silver gelatin print is soaked in an acid bleach that loosens the dark areas of the image, so the emulsion can lift, wrinkle, and be pulled away by hand. Ahan used the process to literally break the surface of the photograph, which fits the question running through his work: what’s underneath the face a person shows the world? The piece first won a Gold Key at the Region at Large South District. That advanced it to national judging, where it earned a National Gold Medal. Ahan accepted the honor at the national ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York.