About the Work

Sense of Self and Place (2019 - ) is an ongoing documentation of my fluctuating sense of home. A transplant in the Las Vegas desert from the Anthracite Coal Region of Pennsylvania, these are places of my past as well as my current explorations, pushing and pulling feelings of nostalgia and desire for newer perspectives.

Inaccessible (2017 - 2019) present the viewer with abstracted images. There is a fluidity to the way in which the images fold onto and over themselves with small fragments floating free from the main form. It appears they will unfurl and reveal their initial content even in their isolated state. They are like specimens of something alien, providing hints of familiarity but refusing to unravel entirely. Though the viewer cannot access the entire image, all the information of that image remains in existence, just as an irretrievable or blocked memory still exists as matter in the brain.

These forms were created through scanning polaroid emulsion lifts. My choice in utilizing Polaroid film is significant to my familial history of using the film for personal snapshots. An emulsion lift is usually executed by smoothly laying the emulsion onto watercolor paper to give it a painterly quality. The film enables manipulation of the image without complete degradation. Through the lifting process, I found that the emulsion voluntarily folded over itself and broke apart at times, and I allowed it to do so on its new ground of watercolor board. Scanning and enlarging the resulting transfer allowed further abstraction from the original. Large enough for the viewer to look for details, the information of the image folds, twists, and falls apart, blocking the viewer from accessing the content.

Unfixed (2018 - 2019) are outlines and silhouettes of objects momentarily on photographic paper. An inkling of what rested there begins to fade the longer the image is exposed to light. The abstractions of what had been there initially are a light shade of yellow surrounded by a pale indigo where light has left its mark on the surface. As the entire surface of the paper is exposed to light, the yellow where the object once rested on the paper darkens to an orange, the orange to a pink, and the pink to that same pale indigo of the surrounding surface. The outlines of the object become less distinguishable and then disappear completely into the same uniform shade.

These temporary abstractions are created with unprocessed black and white photographic paper. By not developing and fixing the paper, the content rapidly fades out of existence. They are developed by the light. As the surface is exposed, the light vanquishes any details. These pieces exemplify transience. They are impermanent and last for only a short time.

Silver Manipulation (2017)

Disruption (2018) pieces provide the viewer with representational imagery. From afar, familiar forms like streets, buildings, landscapes, and figures are distinguishable. The greyscale photographs give the viewer just enough information but are devoid of defining characteristics. The closer the viewer gets to the image, the more the details begin to fade. The image becomes a static blur. Eventually what appeared from far away becomes a mass of noisy black and white fragments. There are disruptions of white space where the details once were. As the viewer searches for more detail through closer examination, the image becomes less distinct.

The Disruption pieces are digitally imputed and manipulated images. In blurring and adding noise to the image, the fine details are broken a part. The added blur distorts and generalizes the structures and figures. This general image allows the viewer to apply their own memories of places or moments that have a sense of familiarity. The harder they seek to understand that familiarity by getting a closer look, the more dissatisfied they will become by the lack of detail. The viewer is not able to discern specific details, just as most of us are unable to recall complete memories.

Scattered Memories (2014 - 2015)