The Red Chair

The beauty of the south in the United States is often shrouded by a deep undercurrent of the socioeconomic divide that has existed for centuries. While that beauty has objective merit, I prefer to find solace in the things that are forgotten and forlorn - in subjects whose only relevance to the past are their neglected edifices or in those that remain intact but are swallowed by their surroundings. These images are self portraits of a photographer and a person who keeps the world at arms length. I use the chair to give scale and intimacy to a photograph that may otherwise lack a conduit for connection. My hope is the chair allows the viewer to have that unique connection a traditional portrait may not otherwise allow for. The chair is a reflection of who I am but it can be all of us. And it bears witness to elements of beauty that have been forgotten but should not be ignored.