Artist Statement :

I’ve always had a connection with nature, usually choosing to take my work outdoors instead of photographing in an interior space. I am inspired by the natural world and seek to understand it.

Humans have an innate curiosity towards everything in the world. It seems we need to know the limits of things in order to conquer and control these objects. We as humans have to identify, categorize, understand the meaning of, find the limits, discover, and in the end control what is initially found. But there are some problems with this sort of sensibility. From this came my concept, which is, what exactly is the human connection to the natural world?

I don’t think there is one answer to this question. I believe my work needs to incorporate both the positive and negative parts of the human’s involvement or connection with nature. I began by focusing on more of the human’s recognition of nature, the hold nature puts upon humans and the intrigue human’s have about nature. Examples of this can be seen in my images where nature engulfs an individual. This is done with natural elements such as vines or in instances where plants spontaneously grow out of a person’s body. I also show a human’s appreciation of nature by creating what appear to be almost ritualistic constructions out of natural elements. These shapes seem to close in on the individual, almost as though these people created these symbolic shapes to better understand the world around them. Lastly, I consider the darker side of the human connection to nature, the destruction and the conquering of nature. I also represented nature’s side of the story, which is of course nature’s eventual comeback and control over human kind.

I have been influenced by the work of many other artists, who in a similar fashion attempt to show a human’s fascination with the environment, including Andy Goldsworthy who uses natural elements to create sculptures that incorporate the landscape. These are his way of connecting to the environment to bring light to the nature world. I’m very intrigued by his constructions, and draw a significant amount of conceptual inspiration from his work.

For the desaturated, almost aged appearance of the color palette, I transfer my photographs onto fine art paper. This allows the appearance of being weathered, or in a sense more natural. I’ve also chosen to use the panoramic format because this allows me to capture the landscape as a whole rather then in pieces.

I hope these images stir some sort of emotion in the viewer whether it is positive or negative. In the end I want the viewer to see that there is significance to nature, that it is not just a beautiful backdrop, that we are all connected to the natural world is some way or another.

Thesis Work

Hello,

thought it would be interesting to start a blog to allow people to see how I am progressing with my photography. I'll start by posting my more recent work, which is my thesis work, please let me know what you think, there will be more to come soon .....