As a child, I would pore over old family photo albums and wonder about the lives of my long-dead relatives. What had led them to the moment when a particular image was captured? What were they doing before and after that moment? As an artist and media maker, I have always been compelled by the image’s ability to both create and redefine truth, memory and belief. Largely because the added layers of time, space and sound engage all our senses in ways that more static mediums cannot, moving images often defines a particular moment as truth. In this it can be expansive or reductive, depending on how a particular sequence triggers memory and how firmly it controls what is left in and out of the frame. My work, whether working in a traditional narrative mode, using experimental techniques that rely on an impressionistic and emotional visual palette or require interaction from the viewer, often address issues of memory and how those memories engage with our most deeply held beliefs. In this, I attempt to engage the viewer by asking universal questions in non-confrontational ways that explore how memories are formed and come to define who we are. What is faith? What structures meaning in our lives? How are those structures challenged over time and through the moments that come to define who we are? My work usually addressed these issues by asking viewers to reflect on their own lives in ways that at times are deceptively simple and small, but at others are large, but asked in simple, direct ways.
In creating my work, I usually begin with a question that has developed in my mind, either from seeing an image, through reading or observing how humans interact with one another. For instance, an overheard conversation, a forgotten note, a dropped glove in the snow, can all become inspiration and the seed of an idea. I then develop a structure upon which to explore the question using visual, auditory and interactive experiences. This often involves finding or creating various images and sounds that have an iconic or nostalgic quality and thereby have an automatic, memory laden association in those who see and hear them. Although I hope that viewers will walk away with a very particular impression or feeling, this is to a large degree beyond my control and as an artist I do not wish to define the associations viewers make. Rather, I hope that by viewing and interacting with my work, people will tap into their own memories, make new associations and be left with many lingering questions about how memory functions in all our lives and how it helps create meaning.