Life is a journey that has made me question many things, the intangible human spirit, the miracle of birth, a devastating diagnosis, the passage of death. This new work is an attempt to come to terms with my mother’s advanced aging, memory loss, and inevitable passing. A Place Away suggests keeping something safe while in a distant state. The original photographs have been altered to show the figure in an altered state of being, a liminal space, a metaphorical reference to my mother’s current state of mind, and existence between life and death. The specific stories are not necessary to understand the work, but they are what drive their creation. My images have become a visual diary, a place where I come to terms with life.
My interest in the electronic environment lies in the believability of the photograph and malleability of the digital medium. The way I make images changes with each technological shift, while teaching has enriched my love and understanding of the medium itself. I am fascinated by our relationship to the earth, our effect on it and its’ emotional influence on us; all of which, make our existence evident as I continue to ponder the day when we may only exist in an image.
2019-2021
As I watch my aging mother slip away unable to recall something that happened just moments before, I can clearly see the confusion in her eyes. In reflections of my own aging image, I can’t help but see my mother’s genetic influence. Ultimately, I fear that I, too, will be unable to remember my own existence.
In these found 19th century portraits, I see a glimpse of myself. These once living individuals are now lost and forgotten. The images in this series have been manipulated to include the hair or eyes of my own genetic family members, as well as the imposed imperfections left by time. The juxtaposition of these contemporary elements heightens the rigidness of the original portraits. The images appear to be fleeting yet they are grounded and illogical.
For years, I have been intrigued in the conceptual paradox of “the digital one of a kind.”
The images influenced by the antiquated 19th century photographic processes are tarnished, aged and imperfect. While the constructed images first appear to be that of passing moments, the waxed encaustic technique makes a futile attempt to preserve and halt the progression of time. Once covered in wax the prints become transparent and ethereal while heightening the sense of the print as an object. The prints are attached to the wall only by steel corners allowing ambient light to illuminate the images from behind. This installation forces the viewer to question the reality of what they see and, perhaps, consider the fragile illusion of memory.
As I watch my aging mother slip away unable to recall something that happened just moments before, I can clearly see the confusion in her eyes. In reflections of my own aging image, I can’t help but see my mother’s genetic influence. Ultimately, I fear that I, too, will be unable to remember my own existence.
In these found 19th century portraits, I see a glimpse of myself. These once living individuals are now lost and forgotten. The images in this series have been manipulated to include the hair or eyes of my own genetic family members, as well as the imposed imperfections left by time. The juxtaposition of these contemporary elements heightens the rigidness of the original portraits. The images appear to be fleeting yet they are grounded and illogical.
For years, I have been intrigued in the conceptual paradox of “the digital one of a kind.”
The images influenced by the antiquated 19th-century photographic processes are tarnished, aged and imperfect. While the constructed images first appear to be that of passing moments, the waxed encaustic technique makes a futile attempt to preserve and halt the progression of time. Once covered in wax the prints become transparent and ethereal while heightening the sense of the print as an object. The prints are attached to the wall only by steel corners allowing ambient light to illuminate the images from behind. This installation forces the viewer to question the reality of what they see and, perhaps, consider the fragile illusion of memory.
2012-2014
There are 42,000 deaths due to breast cancer every year. As anyone who has been diagnosed with cancer knows, it changes you forever. You are reminded of it every time you look in the mirror. It never leaves you and although it was in the past, you know it could also be your future.
2007-2008
When I made this work, I had been photographing the landscape as I travel between my home and work. These images act as the background for the found 19th-Century portraits seen in this series. The images are similar in location but the time of day and season are different, making one subtly aware of the passage of time where each insignificant day adds up to a year and eventually a lifetime. The portraits were found in local thrift shops, probably originated from the same general areas I photographed.
This project was made into two bodies of work; small digital prints and contemporary one-of-a-kind ambrotypes, collodian wet plate images on glass. The found vintage prints were likely created from a similar technology used in the ambrotype, emulsion on glass, process. Printing these constructed images as one-of-a-kind ambrotypes represents a coming home of the discarded photograph to a place where it once existed. While the inkjet prints, serve as a kind of alternate recollection.
2003-2006
The 19th-century portrait, landscape and the digital media help me communicate my interpretation of the human experience. By extracting people from their original context and then placing them into fabricated landscapes, I hope to retell a story of their being, one which allows the images to acquire a life of their own. While the pieces from photographs verify an actual lived experience, the landscape stands as my metaphor for life, demarcating its quality, where the horizon suggests an endless time.
My interest in the electronic environment lies in the believability of the photograph and malleability of the digital medium. I feel my work is successful when it expresses my personal thoughts and experiences. However, the specific stories are not necessary to understand the work, but they are what drive their creation. My images have become a visual diary, a place where I come to terms with life.
1990-1995
