ARTIST STATEMENT

Photography is about making connections. Through the lens, the photographer seeks to form a relationship with the subject. For the viewer, the connection is made through the final product; an attempt to find a link between the subject and the viewers’ own perceptions. Oftentimes, those associations are rooted in sentimentality. This can be attributed to the photograph’s popularity in contemporary culture as a mark of remembrance, to find its final resting place in a scrapbook or photo album.

In an attempt to deconstruct the popular perceptions of the photograph, I seek to create an image devoid of any psychological representation. I use the camera as a non-objective recorder; where I simply fill the space in front of it. I am merely an object to document, abandoning any use of facial expressions in favor of a much more direct yet neutral gaze. My work is oftentimes created based on sets of images where each image is tied to the next, with no beginning or end. As a result, the viewer is forced to look at the compounded images as a whole, unable to see each image individually. Because of the repetitive nature of the almost indistinguishable images the value of the original object is lost. The focus becomes the subtleties occurring within the images making up the whole based on constructs such as the part in the hair minutely changing over fifteen frames, the head rotating at an equal 24º degrees totaling 360º, or the almost indistinguishable changes in expression taking place over the course of an entire roll of film. The photographs’ size also works to expand the physical presence of the image. When confronted with larger than life images of heads, whether grouped in a grid, or in a single line, their presence is overwhelming. Time is also a factor. The time required to sit patiently has become almost a form of meditative yoga, forcing myself to wait for each click of the shutter, many times at specific intervals.

What I find most interesting is challenging the universal appeal of the photograph so that others may understand this aesthetic I articulate in my images. With the advent of one-hour developing and disposable cameras, the cultural significance of the photograph has shifted. I work towards pushing that shift back to photography’s original intent; to record factual, visual information and in the process find anonymity in something as personal as the self-portrait.