Artist Statement
On May 14, 2003, my father held my stepmother’s hand, closed his eyes and submitted to the disease that consumed him. A long and debilitating battle with cancer finally conquered his body. His death left me heartbroken, confused, and displaced. The world I had lived in for 27 years suddenly appeared unfamiliar to me. All I could now see was suffering and death. In my search for comfort, I found it impossible to accept the seeming injustice of the cycle of life. Desperate to the see the world with the optimism and delight I felt had been stolen from me, I began to travel, dragging along my camera with the hope that it could provide a means to understanding and eventually moving beyond my despair.

The series, Beyond the Horizon, emerged during this period. Beyond the Horizon is comprised of 35 mm photographic prints that reveal the relationships between man and nature to be delicate and interconnected. Small human figures are neither masters of nor intruders upon the landscapes they inhabit. Simply another element of nature, their existence, like the waves, is in a constant state of flux. There are mountains that have been thrust into the sky, seeming to crave the embrace of the sun. And there are hills that once were mountains, no less beautiful in their diminished form. Ever-changing cloud formations are captured as they were at a single moment in time before that form was lost and replaced by another. Fog is suspended in the air enveloping its surroundings. Human figures appear in otherwise barren landscapes encapsulating their smallness and frailty. And, of course, there are the human-made: buildings, wires, and fences. All of these, made from natural materials, are temporarily suspended in their current form, destined to return to the earth.

While not eliminating the significance of human suffering, the awesome scale of the natural world does offer a sense of perspective. Our physical selves and the pain that we experience are as much a part of this world as are the mountains and the light given by the sun. Only by viewing them all as vital parts of one grand entity can we begin to make the connections.

 

Cross-Reference