Suspended Boundaries

This body of work expresses my fascination with the myriad ways that photographs translate reality. They invite us to question our knowledge of what is actual. They suspend physical and mental boundaries that separate (us from) things in the world. I am drawn to the paradoxical work of the camera: it both renders lived experience faithfully and yet yields unexpected moments of surprise by deeply transforming what I see. These photographs draw on the constitutive elements of still life photography (such as the depicted object and its surrounding space) and their blending of representational force and formal values. I construct scenes that exist only for the camera by combining cut out segments of my own photographs with real objects. The overlapping of textiles and other materials creates disorienting volumes. The transformation of portions of real space creates flat surfaces that intertwine with depths. The distortions created by the camera interrupt the familiarity with ordinary details in the picture through the ambiguity of the construction. I compose unusual perspectives to subvert gravity and manipulate the boundaries of the frame. Starting from domestic spaces and mundane objects of everyday life, my photographs stand on the fine line between abstraction and figurative representation, awareness of represented reality and pure aesthetic pleasure. My training in set design and education in theater influences my way of looking through the camera: photographs are unstable stages, where shapes and light are assembled, sometimes with figurative references, sometimes with atmospheric plays of light. The series of pictures ‘Suspended Boundaries’ is an ongoing project started in January 2014.