A photographer and writer, the inspiration for my artwork is in the journaling I do about my night dreams, visions and experiences in the natural world. As a process-oriented artist, I turn my concepts into long-term projects that become narrative photo installations.
Beginning with In her dreams, I spent three years creating photographs to not only invoke the mystery of the dreamscape, but also be my personal exploration of a woman’s psyche. Searching for my identity in altered reality continued in The Desk, a series of self portraits acted out in front of an early 19th century secretary desk — the camera my witness.
Stylistically, I often pay homage to allegorical photographers of the 1800s. For many years I made copperplate etchings out of my gelatin silver prints to mimic 19th century photogravures in my series Ghosts in Love and A Fury Tale. Now I work with a digital camera and all the latest software to give my photographs the appearance of being created long ago.
My ongoing multidisciplinary art project, Rodin’s Photographer, is presented as my reinterpretations of these "discovered" turn of the century artist’s photographs. After eight years, two solo shows, a theater residency and a series of graphic novellas in the works, I continue to find creating art under the auspices of a fictional "Unknown Photographer" ironically helps me be more honest. And it fascinates me that many who view the work are intrigued by her, and ask, "Is she a real historic figure?"
The Phoenix, my latest leap into performance art, is inspired by a desire to find new ways for Rodin’s photographer to express her liberation. I hired diverse thinkers in costume design, dance and video to help me foster new perspectives.
A friend advised me to note the last images in a series; therein lies the truth:
There is a place where ghosts can go.
It is a place where the woebegone souls go wild.
It is deep in a place where the lost and the searching meet.
—From Ghosts in Love