AS BIRDSONGS EMERGE
STATEMENT
Since the 1980s, I have employed the use of multiple images and image-juxtaposition to explore the visual, psychological and formal possibilities of composite pictures. As Birdsongs Emerge is a natural progression expanding the constructed image making methods I began with Lineations (2015-2018). Are there ways to transform the representation of the perceivable world to slow the act of ‘looking’? What occurs in the mind, memory, and eye when the seeing plane is abruptly spliced? Or when a recognizable signifier as plain as a rose bush appears to be collapsing in on itself? With Lineations my work moved into the realm of photo-based construction, assembling images in the studio with hand-drawn marks of carefully variegated line weight, layers of vellum, and other material interventions. Now, with As Birdsongs Emerge, I am further extending the photographic space, shifting between the background and foreground, geometric spaces and the natural world. Image fragments are layered, integrated and frequently thrown into conflict, yet no single material or conceptual element outweighs the other. As Birdsongs Emerge seeks not to resolve but question the strata of seeing—as I have always found comfort in the unseen rather than the apparent.
