LOST CREEK
Solo Exhibition/ Escape Artist Studios/ Las Vegas, Nevada/ 2021
In Lost Creek, I challenge conventional landscape photography by revealing the subtle dynamics of natural forces through a custom-built medium format rangefinder. Focusing on a dried creek bed in the Mojave Desert, my technique of multiple exposure transforms singular moments into fluid sequences, unveiling water's ancient passage through stone. The deliberate choice of monochromatic imagery emphasizes textural qualities and temporal layers within each composition.
Through overlapping exposures, these photographs transcend mere documentation to reveal the intricate connections within natural systems. Rock faces bear the marks of centuries-old water patterns, while erosion tells stories of time's persistent influence. Each frame builds upon the previous one, creating layered compositions that reveal the landscape's accumulated history.
This work challenges our perception of time and landscape, offering a meditation on nature's fluidity rather than adhering to photography's traditional role of freezing moments. The multiple exposure technique reveals subtle variations that might otherwise go unnoticed, inviting viewers to experience the dynamic essence of geological time through these layered compositions. The work serves as a bridge between human perception and geological time, allowing viewers to witness the usually imperceptible motion of our living Earth.
VIRGO
Solo Exhibition/ Escape Artist Studios/ Las Vegas, Nevada/ 2019
In "Virgo," I explore photography's unique capacity to transcend conventional boundaries of time and space, serving as both a vessel for memory and a lens through which we can question our fundamental understanding of reality. The photographic medium, particularly in candid moments, captures light in ways that mirror the cosmic dance of electromagnetic waves throughout our universe, reaching distant corners like the vast expanse of the Virgo Supercluster.
These captured moments exist in a state of perpetual dialogue between past, present, and future. Just as light and sound waves maintain their essential information while traveling through space-time, photographs, though static in form, contain dynamic potential for interpretation and meaning. Through this collection, I challenge our linear perception of time and space, transforming the candid photograph from a mere document into a portal for contemplating the fluid nature of reality.
When we observe these images, we participate in a profound paradox: we simultaneously witness a specific moment in time while engaging with light that continues its cosmic journey. This duality invites us to transcend our singular perspective and consider our place within the greater cosmic narrative.
Protesters
Solo Exhibition/South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center/ South Bend, Indiana/ 2010
In creating "Protesters," I sought to document civil rights activism through research of Eric Etheridge's documentary "Beach of Peace" and the oral histories preserved by the South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center. Working exclusively in black and white silverprint portraits, I create a visual narrative that bridges the past and present of racial equity struggles, focusing on the transformative story of the Engman Public Natatorium. Operating under strict segregation policies after its 1922 opening, the facility became a catalyst for civil rights activism, eventually evolving into the Civil Rights Heritage Center.
My photographic technique merges documentary methods with artistic composition in silver gelatin prints, creating portraits of the leaders who challenged the status quo. The work examines the period around 1931, when community activism drove legislative changes regarding segregated public spaces. These black and white portraits document historical moments while contributing to contemporary discussions about social justice. The former Engman Natatorium now houses this photographic installation alongside permanent exhibitions, presenting the building's controversial past and its current role as a center for education and social change.
NEVER LET ME GO: MEMORY LOSS AND THE ARCHIVE
Solo Exhibition/ New England School of Photography/ Boston, Massachusetts/ 2014
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina's impact on New Orleans, my artistic practice shifted through an encounter with my grandmother's water-damaged photographic archive. This experience with deteriorating family photographs – their molded surfaces, obscured faces, and deteriorating inscriptions – led me to investigate how physical degradation of photographic materials might serve as a metaphor for memory's relationship with loss.
"Never Let Me Go: Memory, Loss, and the Archive" emerges from this experience through my work with found 35mm slides. I recreate the effects of water damage and deterioration, simulating the transformative processes I witnessed in my grandmother's collection. Through manipulation of these found images, I create interventions that mirror natural degradation, generating new narratives from anonymous personal histories. This approach questions the societal impulse to preserve memories in their original state. By altering found slides, I suggest that our attempt to hold onto memories might be better served through embracing their transformation rather than fighting against it. The work explores experiences of loss and remembrance, questioning how we might find new ways of holding onto what matters most even as its form changes beyond recognition.
MY FATHER’S WAR 2017
Through surviving Kodachrome slides from my father's Vietnam War service, I explore the intersection of personal narrative and intergenerational memory. These photographs, captured through his lens during active duty, serve as windows into experiences he shares with measured consideration.
I work with original Kodachrome slides to explore the preservation and transformation of historical memory. These physical remnants, with their distinctive color palette, form the foundation of my investigation. Through manipulation and reinterpretation of these images, I create a dialogue between past and present, examining how memory shifts and how we process inherited history. This process of re-contextualizing the images offers another pathway into understanding my father's wartime experiences, adding a visual dimension to our ongoing conversations.
The work examines war's effects across generations through photography's dual role as witness and interpretive medium. By engaging with my father's memories, I explore the space between personal and collective history. The project stems from my effort to understand his experience while considering how war's psychological aftermath moves through time. These reimagined images question how experiences are preserved and transmitted, while connecting with the events that shape our family histories.