While I am currently consumed with my paranormal obsession, it has not always been the focus of my creative output. The images contained within this page are from this period before the paranormal. Though disparate in the themes that they are exploring, the work contained here is exemplary of a creative era that was dead set on understanding the relationship between physical photographs and what their material presence meant in a digital world.
Denmark
In the spring of 2018, I was fortunate enough to study abroad in Copenhagen. I was also fortunate enough to receive a grant that would provide me with film, processing equipment, and a short gallery show to display this work. My original intention was to obtain photos of the Danish people who I was led to believe were quite fashionable. The images that came into being, however, contain an undeniable feeling of isolation. When coupled with the degradation brought about by my limited understanding of developing photographs, the expressive capacity of the isolation becomes only heightened.
Buffalo Architecture
These images are from February of 2019 at a time when I was intent on improving my ability to develop black and white photographs. This images came about on a restless and unseasonably warm day that made the city's architecture a desirable subject. The images came out with little issue and ended up going on display at Dobotsu from July 2019 to July 2020.
Destruction
As my technical knowledge grew to the point where my images would no longer be invaded by chemical flaws and other markings of neglect, I began to seek out a more deliberate form of photographic obstruction. The first images here are successful experiments in destruction without ideological intention. From the point of "Post Definition", however, the scratching becomes part of a project about the destructive reality of the postmodern moment that we occupy.
Punctum Lost
Upon first reading Camera Lucida, I was struck by the punctum and its potential for deep emotional resonance within old photographs. I was also in a period of collecting slide photographs whenever I came across them. The idea of punctum remaining in the images I had unceremoniously purchased at thrift stores brought about a desire to remove this emotional charge from these photographs. If my experience of them was to occur without their emotional significance, then I wanted their physical presence to reflect that. I decided that a piercing (the root of punctum) of the eyes - with all of its uncanny subtexts - would strip the punctum. The theory being that these "windows to the soul" either contained punctum to begin with, or would grow to overshadow the real punctum.
Mixed Media
Following the violent piercing of the punctum project, I wondered about a form of augmentation that would not end up outright destroying the photograph. While I haven't tried removing the paint from any of these images, the augmentation which did not inherently destroy the photograph occupied my work for a brief period. These images stand as exemplary of that moment of mixed media creation.
