my heroin, my kryptonite

I have been a photographer my entire life - back when we created everything in a dark room. My current body of work started by accident. A photographer once asked me if I ever took photos of myself. I said, “ No, I don’t.” The photographer said to me, “ Then how can you call yourself a photographer?” That statement was a challenge to me because I have always felt that photography is an intrusion and intimate. Years later, I was extremely stressed and started randomly taking photos of myself with my iPhone during these episodes to see what I looked like. The marks were originally smeared lipstick from wiping my tears away and ended up looking like war paint for a battle - a substitute for the cutting I did as a teen. I may take 50 images and only keep 1 or 2. The marks on my face become a mask, my wrinkles, my feminine power, the war within me. I use my iPhone because it is a contemporary, innovative, and accessible. All my photos are photos printed on loose canvas held up with 5 masonry nails.