I know at a glance

The photographs in this body of work were mostly made in Arizona and Southern California, although a few are from other places.

The photographs in this body of work were mostly made in Arizona and Southern California, although a few are from other places. They were made without any specific plan. Often I would photograph places, things or people that held a personal meaning for me, such as my father, an ex­-boyfriend, or my car. Other times the people and places depicted held no special meaning beyond the photograph itself.

In assembling these pictures I hope to draw a connection between myself and the broader world (and beyond). That world is defined by the particulars of my existence. I live in Arizona, shop at Walmart, drive a used car, and look for sex online. These are the spaces, objects and people that define the subject matter of my work.

Nevertheless, I am interested in a certain uncanny or mysterious quality in photographs. Often I feel there is a gap between what the photograph is of (an old camera bag, a quarried hillside half grown over, or an older man staring into the distance) and the effect of that photograph on the viewer (me). This is a gap that interests me very much as I think it gets to the heart of the power and meaning of photographs as well as my own motivations for making them.

Part of this universe in which I exist and that I explore through my pictures is my relationship with all the photographs and photographers who have come before me. I take great inspiration from the history of the medium and the work of its practitioners. I like looking at photographs. I hope you do too.