wonder lost

My first time photographing with a sense-of-purpose, a sense-of-self, was in high school.  I would drive for hours, on the sunlit backroads of Southern Illinois, in my 1991 Toyota Cressida with the sunroof open, wind wisping my hair around my face, in search of magic — later defined as anything that spoke to me. At the time, I didn't fully understand what that meant; but a few years later, while in college, I began to realize that the imagery which spoke to me most, was directly linked to my memories. 

This is an ongoing series that examines the relationship between childhood memories and their transition to adult recollections of the past. In capturing fabricated and found spaces, I hope to encourage the viewer to reconnect with the missing part of themselves, in a way that reminds us all to live in a more joyful and imaginative, playful way by letting go of the poisonous excess emotional baggage that results from being an “adult”… aka: unaddressed trauma. 

“If the photographer looks intensely enough, [they] can find the secret images of our fears, joys and desires. Everything is speaking to us – every object.”

— Clarence John Laughlin

PROCESSING + WORKS

Similar to life, evolution shifted my creative modalities and over time, the lens in which I view the world has changed. What began with analog photograph — capturing images primarily on 4x5” film and making traditional prints in a darkroom — has become photo based mixed media. The tactile, nostalgic qualities of the darkroom have evolved into a mixed media form that incorporates wheat paste as the first queue of interaction for the audience.

Working this way, the layers of life, that inevitably weigh us down, become visible to the eye.  In applying wheat pasted photographs onto salvaged plywood and other found surfaces by hand, and removing excess material to reveal the source image, the viewer is left witnessing various markings, scars unto to life itself. Visually mimicking the realities in how we come to be who we are.  Lastly, a finish coat is applied to each piece, bringing it back to life.  This represents the perfection we aspire to, while everything underneath, reminds us to receive and accept the imperfections that make us who we are. From inception to finality, every aspect of the work leaves an evidential trace...something to embrace, not run from.