ABOUT THE WORK

#ThisAmericanDystopia

Inspired during a cross-country road trip from California to Mississippi, the major influences for this imagery are as follows: (1) The Supreme Court overturning Roe vs. Wade in 2022; (2) reading Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” in 2019; (3) an assignment I had in 2013 while pursuing my MFA in photography: “Take a photo of 300 years from now;” (4) the deleterious effects of Trumpism and capitalism. This body of work is a glimpse into the future, as I imagine it, as well as manifestations of that dystopia, which I see in present times. It is also a call to action with simple ideas of how to move forward.

Colorism

This four-image series was my contribution to a group exhibition, “Colorism: The Spectrum of Internalized Bias,” which was shown in San Francisco in 2019. Colorism is defined as prejudice or discrimination against individuals with dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group. According to the curator of the exhibit, Daryl Stenvoll-Wells, “I relied on artists to tell the story of what the phenomenon of colorism has meant in their own artistic practice…No art exhibition can dismantle a practice as widespread as colorism…[but] I believe the message of this collection of work has enormous potential to provoke meaning reflection and long-term change, even if only for a small segment of the population.”

VIRAL: 25 Years

This seven-image body of work was my contribution to a group exhibition, "VIRAL: 25 Years from Rodney King," which was exhibited in Venice and Oakland, CA in 2016. The images document the locations where individual lives--DeAunta Terrell Farrow, Alex Nieto, Gustavus Rugley, Mario Woods, Jamill Wheatfall, Oscar Grant, Duanna Johnson, and Larry Neal--were taken unjustly due to racism, transphobia, and an abuse of power. They highlight a systemic sickness in America that has gone unhealed for decades and demands our attention. 

As a biracial child born and raised in Memphis, I heard my share of "yellow" and "chink" jokes, which took its toll on me. The emotional climate felt hostile, yet my father taught me, "we are our brother's keeper." When I was older, he advised me that my job should benefit others, not just myself, and so I grew up to be a clinical social worker and fine art photographer. As a person with a passion for social justice, I have long been troubled by inequity in our society. The #BlackLivesMatter movement struck a chord in me, and I am proud to share my voice in this protest.  

The Loss Project

Started in 2014 and completed in 2017, the Loss Project represents a merging of psychology and photography, an artistic exploration of the human condition, presented in a series of environmental portraits with the themes of grief and loss. The imagery may include loss due to death; breakups; abandonment; neglect; abuse; separation from places, things, or ideas, such as dreams of what could have been.

This project serves as a form of art therapy on a number of levels. Personally, the work helped me process my own painful losses. For subjects, it offered a safe place to process grief in the act of modeling and in receiving their portraits. For viewers, it’s an opportunity to connect with unresolved feelings of grief and loss. In seeing the project for the first time, a former client reported: "I shared your Loss Project. I love it! So many of them brought joy and sadness. In a weird way, it's beautiful to know that someone else had felt what you've felt. That you're not alone..."

In 2016, the Loss Project found its proper home at HealGrief, a nonprofit whose mission is "to remove the taboo regarding death by creating a conversation about an inevitable life cycle and to validate the feelings and emotions associated with bereavement." There, my Loss Project images related to death, along with subjects' stories of their grief, are exhibited in an online gallery. Moreover, there is a call for entries to the public to share their own loss imagery. In so doing, the Loss Project becomes a “therapeutic intervention” wherein anyone in the world can share their story, whether or not they identify as an artist.

Memphis Faces

As a former Memphian and quasi-grammarian, the name of this body of work is meant to be a double entendre. Literally, the images are of Memphis (adjective) faces (noun). Figuratively, Memphis (noun) faces (verb) begs the question: What does Memphis face? The images are of blacks, whites, the wealthy, the working poor, and those in between. They are juxtaposed against each other, and are a reflection of the barriers, which existed when I was grew up in Memphis and are still apparent today. 

Theater Work

In working as a contract photographer for City Lights in San Jose, CA from 2015-2016, I was pleased to create the publicity and production photos for performances throughout the year that appeared in newspapers as well as theater publications.  My work on behalf of the theater honored my lifelong interest in the visual and performing arts and my belief in supporting local businesses that build strong communities.