I have always been fascinated by multiple interpretations, double exposures, and the ambiguities that arise depending on which character is telling the story. My process begins with a collection of elements...images...writing. As I move the elements around, a visual narrative begins to take shape, signaling a new understanding of parallel stories. My use of collage indicates a story told in two voices, representing identities that have been torn apart, stripped, reflected upon, and ultimately reconstructed.
Only Child- statement
When he was five, his daddy was hanged for murder.
When he was six, his mother left him on the steps of the orphanage.
Later, when he was much older, he tried to kill himself...and when it didn’t work the first time...he tried it again.
This lost boy became my dad, and I was his only child. He was my first love...the man against whom I measured all others. It is only now, eight years after his death, that I have come to understand how much my sense of ‘normal’ was colored by my dad’s dysfunctional past.
My childhood was a study in duality. Our relationship was a complex two-step, and I was never quite sure who was leading. After his two suicide attempts, the dynamic changed and I became the parent and he became the child.
And the dance began again.
I began this project eight years ago when my father’s death left a raw open wound. Somehow I knew that over time the weight of loss would ease, and I would be compelled to revisit...to reassess...and to find connections between that wounded man-child and the solemn little girl who became his lifeline.