Artist Statement
I've always been fascinated with the stories we tell of places. Both from an individual, personal level and a larger, cultural level—it’s fascinating to me what we choose to say and the words we use, as well as the mythology and cultural significance that emerge around a place through storytelling and memory, including how our collective and individual memory influences our experience of a place. This work is built of representations of landscapes, both real and imaginary.
Photogravure is a wonderful printmaking medium for photography. It really brings out a wide range of wonderful tones and textures. I like the versatility; images are richer when processed this way. The method echoes traditional photography in many ways, minus the toxic chemicals. Additionally, the hands-on nature of printmaking brings a real sense of participation in the art making process.
I use layers of plates and transparency in the ink to represent the passage of time as well as the fluidity of the experience of memory as time passes. As your eye travels around the work, diving in and withdrawing and returning deeper in, you might be reminded of how your memory works when you're thinking about a place or revisiting a place in real life that may have a memory for you. As we travel through life, we build up a store of memories and visual cues for the places we've been, for the places we'd like to go, the places we imagine as well as the memory of the places we've been and the places we remember wanting to go. I hope my work inspires you to take your own journey into your memories and think about the stories you’ve told about the places you love.
