Illness and Recovery Project Statement

Today I met a man dying of cancer. He looked healthy enough when we met, but his doctors suggeted that he get his affairs in order, and that included talking to me.

During the week, I interview people applying for disability benefits. For an hour or two, I listen to them tell me about their illness and about the chaos and disorder that it has caused. Then I go home and try not to think about them too much. I try not to think about them as my father goes in for another bypass surgery. I try not to think about them when my uncle suddenly cannot speak above a whisper.

It's hard to keep an emotional distance from these situations. Making these photographs helps me grow as an artist and as a person as I create images that explore the balance between illness and recovery.

I specifically photograph water because of its changeability. Shallow water, like ponds, puddles and ditch-water, are especially changeable. These bodies of water are the first to freeze and the first to thaw, and can reflect a beautiful blue sky or reveal a muddy mess below the water's surface.

Each image depicts a fragile state that intimates how quickly one's health can change. They bring to mind the expression, "This, too, shall pass," inspiring both hope and humility. By depicting water in a transformative state, I allow the viewer to decide if each is a representation of hope or despair.

This is an on-going project to photograph water as a way to represent health and its fragility, and illness in its impermanence. (See Gallery)