I have an interest in challenging the viewer to confront the difficult idea of mortality in contrast to how much easier it can be to distance oneself from it. I am not solely interested in our literal mortality as human beings, but also, and in a way more importantly, our humanness while we are still living. In a world that is rapidly changing, partially due to technology advancing at breakneck speeds, each of us is becoming more and more separated and isolated from, not only the people around us, but from our own internal dialogue.
An underlying interest in how we relate to our bodies and how that carries over into the way we relate to each other and the world around us informs much of my work. I choose to use my relationship to my own physicality as a starting point to begin discussing how we interact and react. A fascination with engaging the viewer in emotional experiences drives the work as I find new and different mediums and materials with which to resolve the questions that I raise.
For me, being able to better define the world around me is comforting. Though I find solace in creating my work, fear and discomfort seem to find a way in as well. Perhaps it is because I am dealing with issues about myself and the world around me that make me uncomfortable. Perhaps it is because I often have to confront my own fears and make myself physically uncomfortable in the process of making the work. Either way, embracing both the positive and negative aspects of making the work is part of what keeps me engaged in the process of creating.
Some people often become quite disconnected from their own selves, their bodies and their thoughts; they are absorbed in what is going on around them. Others are more consumed by personal minutia and are disconnected from what is around them. I believe both internal and external are interconnected and that our attentions must vacillate between these two components in order to have a more integrated view of the world. My hope is that people will encounter the work that I create and stop to think about what is inside as well as all of the things going on around them; even to cause them to consider how they play a role in the whole dynamic, and if they are doing so consciously.
An underlying interest in how we relate to our bodies and how that carries over into the way we relate to each other and the world around us informs much of my work. I choose to use my relationship to my own physicality as a starting point to begin discussing how we interact and react. A fascination with engaging the viewer in emotional experiences drives the work as I find new and different mediums and materials with which to resolve the questions that I raise.
For me, being able to better define the world around me is comforting. Though I find solace in creating my work, fear and discomfort seem to find a way in as well. Perhaps it is because I am dealing with issues about myself and the world around me that make me uncomfortable. Perhaps it is because I often have to confront my own fears and make myself physically uncomfortable in the process of making the work. Either way, embracing both the positive and negative aspects of making the work is part of what keeps me engaged in the process of creating.
Some people often become quite disconnected from their own selves, their bodies and their thoughts; they are absorbed in what is going on around them. Others are more consumed by personal minutia and are disconnected from what is around them. I believe both internal and external are interconnected and that our attentions must vacillate between these two components in order to have a more integrated view of the world. My hope is that people will encounter the work that I create and stop to think about what is inside as well as all of the things going on around them; even to cause them to consider how they play a role in the whole dynamic, and if they are doing so consciously.
