Negotiation Of Contradiction
The beginning stages of this project have involved the exploration and use of water for its qualities. As the work unfolds, I will give myself the room to explore the properties of water through other substances. Properties such as, transparent, alive, unpredictable yet natural, yet surreal, essential, beautiful, infinite, modular, and others that I will continue to discover as I come closer to it. All of these properties are what have always attracted me to water. They have helped me see that something inanimate can be equally or more alive than some things we may already call “living”. Water can be active, violent, peaceful, graceful, soothing, burning, freezing, wishy washy, any color, no color, any form, or “no” form. It can take any personality.
Water is something that all of us live with daily. It is close to us, or is it really? I play with water. I draw with it and negotiate with it. Water is unpredictable, and that’s fascinating. Through photography, I have learned how to take that unpredictability to my advantage. In my images, I am able to make virtually any shape, or shall I say, “character” from water. Water is unpredictable.It is alive, reacting to its surroundings, and toying with the viewer. The water has a mind of its own (my mind). A thinking and living spirit of water levitating forever in a space that is ours. Spaces that are real.To see these places haunted by this floating spirit creates a question, a contradiction. A, “how can that be?”. It is two elements. A “living”, dynamic, and unpredictable object. And a still and motionless space where an instant can be a lifetime. Both, together, contradicting time, lifelessness, and expectation. Coexisting, they negotiate the possibility of being real. A friend once said about my images, “The dynamic is its magic and like so many of your other photos the mystery does not lose its interest for remaining unsolved.”