Portfolio Category - Portrait Awards 2014

All artists are haunted by specific themes, and mine seem to be loss and longing. Taking pictures allows me to get close to other people. It satisfies a need for connecting and intimacy that does not have to bend. Making art is about understanding the connections that bond us. It is about being loved, with that risk of failure. The portraits in this series are complex. They describe the figure in front of the lens, and a moment of recognition. They incorporate a spectrum of emotions, and although not specific, articulate impressions otherwise difficult to express. When I make a portrait, I watch to see something I recognize. Often it is a feeling left over from my past. It may be something I long for, or something that helps me connect. Making portraits helps to satisfy my curiosity and re-create what I did not realize in my early years, a reality hidden from me, that I was desperate to comprehend. In the words of Richard Avedon, "For a moment, it becomes possible to understand each other perfectly." I want to describe some kind of truth - both beautiful and sad - of who we are, how we feel, and how we project these emotional states. I want to describe the hope that resides within this exposure.