The Collector
Memory consists of continuous flashes of imagery from diverse sources.
Experiences reside in our mind and bodies as impressions of personal
history. Though time may weaken and even transform memories into an
altered idea of a past encounter, I embrace and try to honor them. My
memories exist as personal experiences and the interaction with items from
my history such as slides, photographs, objects, and collections from
generations past. These items consistently have recurring roles in my work
which embolden and illuminate the recollections. Regardless of monetary
value or size, these collected objects are a dependable, compelling force in
my photographs.
“Where do I come from?” and “Who am I now?” are the questions I started
out to answer when developing photographic self-portraiture projects. Both
of these questions pose issues about my identity as a woman and artist, and
being female and feminine. Coming from a family with a strong matriarchal
line, this investigation seemed like a natural choice. While realizing these
questions have been posed by both genders in all mediums, it is
photography’s contribution that gives this particular subject matter a
self-defined aesthetic, with philosophical and psychological weight.
I curate collections from many familial sources as well as objects found
outside of my own personal history. Out of these collections I start to create
my own assemblages to generate a new context for these items to exist. By
using the actual item to create a lumen print or even a photogram such as
you find in my “blueprint collections” I am able to give these items new
meaning and provenance as an object of importance, desire, and worthiness
of a memory.
While my work is rooted in the examination of the self with a historical
context a present and future tense are emerging. The collection of images or
objects have been recurring in all of my work as I persist in photographic
exploration, self-investigation and the collection of memories-past, present,
and future. Combining multimedia techniques as well as historical and
current photographic practices creates an opportunity to integrate multiple
voices from the past, present and future into one visual and contextual
conversation to while investigating the idea of self.