CREATIVE PROJECTS
Navajo Nation (2010-2011) (view gallery) A primary characteristic of life on the Navajo Nation is the tenuous relationship to the long resident energy extraction industry. Coal, oil, natural gas, uranium, and other resources have, some contend, benefited, the Navajo people and their tribal government. Yet at the same time it has detrimentally impacted their way of life and the health of people living on the reservation. For example, the prevalence of coal on the Navajo Nation supports a series of power generating stations including three of the largest in the Southwest — Four Corners, San Juan, and Navajo Generating Station. This collection of photographs were taken during my fieldwork on the Navajo Nation in 2010 and 2011. They demonstrate some of the tensions present in communities both dependent on heavy industry and facing social and environmental impacts from their operations. |
Scene Portraits (2005-2007) (view gallery) One evening in a bar I noticed a cultural peculiarity worth a closer look. I began asking myself, where does a city’s nightlife come from? I see an wide collections of individuals, but what are their motivations and why do they commune? For the rush of a few drinks? To check out a band? To watch people and listen to their stories? In varying states of psychology and inebriation, many of us go out for the same reasons: we implicitly seek the comfort of company in numbers, for the peripheral connection with a friend, or the cute girl/guy across the room. Within this energized and dynamic environment exists a universal oddity during the evening where we break away and relocate ourselves. Whether for a smoke, a moment of quiet, or to calm down the friend; We step outside. (Medium: 4×5 postive color film, pigment inkjet prints) |
Illusion/Elusion – SMFA Masters Thesis (2004-2005) (view gallery) As a member of the first generation of videogamers , my body has grown comfortable with on-screen counterparts. Interactive experiences of the past, perhaps difficult at one time, are navigated with ease upon returning to legacy virtual spaces. Physical and mental reference points have been created. However, returns to earlier virtual experiences are sometimes bent by the interference of distorted memory. Illusion/Elusion is an exploration of nostalgic virtual experiences through elementary interactions with a networked, interactive Atari2600-based gaming system. (Medium: Atari gaming systems, electronic circuitry, video, steel, plastic, acrylic) |
Yardscapes (2002-2003) (view gallery) Owning land, and its implied liberties, has always been an essential part of the American Dream. The resulting development of suburbs, and subsequently the idea that every family could own a home, created a unique culture space where a yard is no longer a reflection of a building but of its occupants. While some homeowners go to great lengths in decorating their plots with statues, flowers, and flags, others are satisfied with a weekly visit from the landscaper. (Medium: 35mm film, silver gelatin prints) |
Cityscapes (2000-2002) (view gallery) This project represents an exploration of post-industrial city landscapes. It is a journey into photographic abstraction and realism. While a wider perspective may be an unaltered window into our city, the finer view develops its own context of anonymous urban living. In bringing this interpretation of the urban environment to the viewer, I sought subject matter that spoke of the relationship shared by a city’s landscape and its inhabitants, bringing attention to the places void of their presence yet marked by their passing. It is in these places that we find captured glimpses of a city’s tensions in history and presence, solidity and movement. (Medium: 4×5 film, silver gelatin prints) |