Performances: One’s Part in This is a study of a tumultuous romantic relationship. Utilizing an intuitive, psychological approach within the intimate environment of my home studio, each session evolved into a performance and a ritual between myself, my lover, and the 5x7 camera. The scenes I create are not heavily planned out; pre-visualization is kept to a minimum. I leave the stage as open as possible so that the sitter is able to portray what he is feeling within that moment, allowing the poses and resulting images to communicate something about our relationship.
Post-visualization is key in these portraits. Making the negative is the first step of many, and gives me a solid ground on which to build. Allowing the large negative to speak to me as if it were an introduction to a story, I then employ other tools and materials such as toners, dyes, chemical stains, old books and their pages and parts, charcoals and paints, and needle and thread to communicate the middle and end of the tale. The results are portraits which reveal a story (sometimes real, sometimes imagined) of my sitter, our relationship, and ultimately of my Self.
Each image is one of a kind, silver gelatin print, all with hand manipulation.