September 2-17, 2005
Opening reception: Friday, September 9, 2005
(4 - 9 pm)
Gallery Hours: Saturday & Sunday 2 - 6pm


Artist Statement

Why do we have to smile in a photograph, why is the smile so important?

What's the motivation for the smile in a photograph? Perhaps there are two reasons, so that the people in the photograph will be preserved for posterity looking healthy, happy and well adjusted. Another reason could be so that the viewer of the photograph isn't confronted with images of people displaying a more venerable aspect of the human condition. I counter this conventional policy by deliberately celebrating and examining a more subversive emotion, one that is suppose to be personal and private. In some ways I'm living vicariously through my sitters. Attempting to come to terms with my own burden of sorrow, often feeling not equipped to continue the series because I'm asking too much from the sitters and find myself compelled to deal with raw emotions that I and sometimes the sitter can't control. This is where grace can be found, in the lack of control. The openness of disclosure.