Artist’s Statement:

   I have long been fascinated with cultures different from my own. Recent trips to Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Haiti opened windows into worlds of which I had only dreamed. Along with thousands of photographs, I brought home with me a love of these places and their people. During my travels, I was reminded once again of the notion that all people are at most six steps away from any other person on earth. This ever-increasing connectedness of human beings can have profound consequences for human societies. 
   As our world shrinks, we are compelled to find ways to live in harmony with our neighbors. Visual art is a powerful vehicle for storytelling as well as for teaching, and this new series was created to tell a story of cultures different from my own.
    This series incorporates photography, digital imaging, paper and fabric collage and acrylic painting techniques. Some pieces incorporate all of these techniques, while others are limited to one or two. One one level, my intention was to create a series of work which expressed my impressions of these countries and their people.
    On another level, this series is an exploration into the world of collage art. Collage as an art form has a long and rich history, and it has been suggested that it can be understood as a metaphor for human perception. Perception is in essence a cut and paste operation, and the same holds true for consciousness, dreaming and memory. An example is the way in which the human brain, through narrative dreams, makes up a story from bits of experience. The principles of collage move easily between two and three dimensions as well as mediums and have been used in literature, internet culture, cinema, philosophy, and music as well as in visual art.
   All of the pieces in this series are available for purchase.  Please contact me for price information.