My favorite light is just before dawn. I often feel an urgency to create in it, striving to be enlightened in some way. I am always in search of that light fueling the process, the purpose and always, aways the photo project.

In my practice of conceptual self portraiture it enlivens me to be someone other than me who is seen. I hone my intuition through the back and forth between the camera and the studio backdrop or out in nature. I set the camera timer and quickly move, express feelings, usually unfelt but for that moment. What I have come to learn is that the concept or costume does not conceal me. These constructs reveal so much more beyond me, outside the frame.

As an art photographer and writer, I’ve hungered for the stories of all artists. It is a way to understand why I am compelled to create the way I do. Am I any different than a woman photographer who picked up a huge 8 x 10 camera 100 years ago?

Conceptually this question motivates me to frame my photos in a new narrative “The Unknown Photographer,” which began a decade ago as “Rodin’s Photographer.” The inspiration was sparked while reading about fellow symbolist artist Auguste Rodin. Who was the “unknown photographer” attributed to some of the photos used to tell his story? I wondered if I could learn more about my truth through a fictional narrative about trying to piece together the life of a photographer whose work I discover?

After ten years, two solo shows (featuring my photos and writing, sculpture, and dance performances), a theater residency (“The Phoenix” was selected for a 2021 Cornish Arts Incubator Residency), and a series of photo zines (Cloaked, Veiled, Mermaid Dreams, Out on a Limb) in the works, I continue to find creating art under the auspices of the unknown photographer does help me to be more true to myself as an artist. I hope to pass on a legacy of work that speaks not just for me, but all women artists who work despite being unknown.

Recently I was interviewed about my work in the Winter 2025 PCNW Alumni Newsletter.