Initially a simple challenge in response to a series of charcoal drawings, this project soon expanded beyond the initial scope of revisiting a particular location time after time, shooting only with a smartphone, and working only in black and white. The original inspiration had been provided by a particular exhibit at a David Hockney retrospective at the De Young in San Francisco, which showed him returning to the same spot in a Yorkshire forest, to record it changing through the seasons.
Engaging with this location through different access points over the course of three years allowed me to peel back different layers of meaning, by looking at the reservoir as a piece of human engineering, a graphic telltale sign of drought, and finally as a deeply polluted site, revealed as water levels dropped ever lower.
But at the same time, this place was asking me to look beyond that, and to discover beauty in the very traits that seem, on the surface, so very negative. An abandoned sneaker revealed a rich variety of textures, just as the smooth surface of a plastic bottle embedded in gritty mud created fascinating contrasts. Weeds sprouting from the lakebed, dead trees dropped like giant antlers, and dry mud cracked into crazy patterns all evoked a similar sense of grace.
On one level, this is yet another pictorial anecdote of the Anthropocene with all its countless absurdities and all-too-familiar warnings. But it is also a journey of learning and discovery—curating a body of work
