Dear Miss Leah and Catharine MFA - jurors
Any feedback is much appreciated. Many thanks, t
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I need to select 10 images for the grant application. My themes are perception and memory (or place or identity). Most will come from Sight series. The remaining couple/few can come from my Moorlands series - Khara or the green ones - Between grief and hope or Sight series perception theme extended to adults with varied needs and abilities - Optics
Sight series: These photographs are inspired by an optic nerve scan of my eyes. To ‘see’ my own optic nerve, this mysterious messenger of present and future vision, is both wondrous and otherworldly. I make use of this original binocular image to collect, hold, and layer imagery from the natural world. This series reflects ‘shifting visions’ that are purely biological and those that evoke an ever-changing sense of place.
Khara (χαρά): This work explores themes of immigration and memory. The site is the Long Island coast, rich in biodiversity and glacial legacies. My grandmother came from a small island across the Atlantic, Skopelos - known as the ‘green’ island. She brought with her only a few precious ancestral linens. In this series, I use these linens (with the wind, sand, and sea) as a portal to connect back to her.
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developing artist statement:
I am a visual artist and educator exploring themes of perception and identity (or place and memory…) . My photo- based work encompasses traditional methods of photography as well as digital media, performance, and installation. Frequently a performer within my image compositions, I use scientific imaging and the natural environment as inspiration and content. My multidisciplinary background is rooted in both the biological sciences and the fine arts. I am inspired by the eloquent words of the writer Zora Neal Hurston: “Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose”. My research, my ‘poking around’, often leads me back to my scientific impulses, of looking closely at very small things.
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