The River and Halos series are part of an exhibition I had titled, "This Shimmering World' .
My photography process is an act of mediation through deep and extended attention and has evolved over time into capturing or rendering different Infinite Systems (starting with the Infinities) that exist right in front of us. I am trying to understand and present the world in its totality. If only we had the means to observe the world as it truly exists. Think of how differently we would treat each other and our planet …
With the River Series I returned to the documentary tradition but added my own twist to it. In this series, the photographic document can also be read as a type of photographic "drawing" when viewed from a distance, yet up close a record of another infinite system that is at our feet whenever we stand at the river’s edge.
I've always worked with mining the territory in between drawing and photography. I have over the years repeatedly worked with the idea of the viewer changing their perception the closer they get to my images. From a distance some works seem like one thing, but as you get closer the visual codes change to ink-like Sumi gestures and barren burned out trees or water pollution. This duality of line and photographic subject is one of the mysterious things photography can achieve which (for me) no other art form can match.
These pictures are of reflections. Portals into a reversed other world, a kind of fractured looking glass. You can experience these works as an environmental message, a kind of photographic drawing or just meditations on a meandering river. Many symbols revealed themselves on the River: Birds and winged reflections comfort us but a few also hint at our burned forests and poisoned waters. The camera for me is my way to explore all this and more. The diptych format I used works both as a nod to religious altar paintings and a record of time to show how the river is infinitely changing moment to moment.
