Artist Statement

Reclaimed Memories

My work is an attempt to recreate unknown stories inspired from old photographs and photo negatives. Each piece explores the idea of a memory and what role photography plays in understanding who we are and where we came from. My work focuses primarily on references of photographic processes and styles of the late 1800s and early 1900s.  I choose to explore the mystery associated with the idea of memories of a person or group, as well as the chemistry based photography that was used to document these people and their memories. The absence of these photographic processes and these people in our modern world creates an interest to understand what no longer exists. 

My works of art are assembled pieces, carefully selected and put together to tell stories. I often find items on the Internet or buy them from antique stores, yard sales, and flea markets.  Every single detail is thought out and chosen for a reason to help to tell the story, a constructed “memory.”  I primarily work with items that are older and often broken or rusted in combination with photographic prints that I make in the darkroom such as Van Dyke Brown prints, Cyanotypes, and Liquid Emulsion on metal and glass. I let the items tell me what the story is by studying them and thinking about what they could have meant in the past. I combine that will any research I am able find out about the item such as a time period or a place it might have come from. I form these items in to works of art meant to reclaim ideas from the past.

Contact: [email protected] | @thatartmaker (instagram)