I often get asked what overarching message I am trying to convey with my art and the answer at its most basic level is this: I am trying to create imaginative space. In my photography the space I am attempting to create varies from photo to photo or series to series - space to grieve, space to forgive, space to transform, space to connect - and very often it is space that elicits questions without an immediate answer.
The Japanese have a concept called “Ma” which loosely translates to ‘negative space’. It speaks to that area of space around or between subjects: a ‘free zone’ that allows dissimilar things to coexist. Ma says that how we spend our time and how we shape our space, directly impacts our progress. If we have no time, or our space is restricted, then we cannot grow.
When I first moved from the city to the country in 2011, I was intimidated by the space I encountered. I was used to the feeling of being crowded out and hemmed in by the space restrictions of the city, and felt very vulnerable in the wide open spaces of the country. But it was because of this newfound space that my imagination began to open up and I was able to conceptualize and create from a place that may never have revealed itself to me had I stayed in the city. The countryside gave my artist space to grow and flourish.
I often get asked what overarching message I am trying to convey with my art and the answer at its most basic level is this: I am trying to create imaginative space. In my photography the space I am attempting to create varies from photo to photo or series to series - space to grieve, space to forgive, space to transform, space to connect - and very often it is space that elicits questions without an immediate answer. I portray figures within these spaces so their identity is not shown and, by doing so, I am also inviting the viewer to place themselves in the scene and inhabit the space.
With abstract painting I attempt to convey the fundamental concept of Ma by stripping away any excess elements. With minimal subject, my goal is to capture the flow of space and time, creating a tension that holds an underlying sense of calm.
When it comes to a viewer, my goal is to offer visual and imaginative space to anyone who may find themselves with an absence of space. In the crowded information highway of our current world, my hope is that my artwork gives allowance for a pause, a moment of repose, and silence. By extension my hope is that in turn, a small seed of a creative idea will get planted that might one day grow.
I believe that two keyways to our personal and collective transformation as a human race are space and imagination. If we can imagine a better world we will be able to envision the tools we need to create it. Transformation occurs when we begin to give ourselves enough space for the imagination to unfold and flourish.