A traveler's readings 2005-2006

I come from a peripatetic family. I have been traveling all my life (for reasons too numerous to list.) This past sabbatical year, for different reasons, I was fortunate to travel to India. Australia and to South East Asia. The latter is an area I had never before been. I also spent time in the Balkans and in Turkey.

When traveling, my cameras and my drawing tools are like another companion, helping me to 'see' more. What struck me this time was how certain activities felt remarkably familiar.

Home, wherever that may be, I have started to sift through the images and notes.

“A Traveler’s Readings” is made up digital composites reinterpreting the initial information. I use very simple aspects of Adobe Photoshop to layer images. Sometimes the commands seem the appropriate metaphor for an experience. ‘Intensity’, ‘erase’, ‘burn’ all take on new meaning.

The images merge observations of ordinary activities within the communities in which I took the photographs. They focus on parts that bring the ‘other’ close. They examine the intersection of diverse beliefs and practices; devotions, etiquettes, legacies, and desires that have unexpected junctions. They attempt to impart information; to encourage visual deliberations that exonerate xenophobia.

Openings into the labyrinth of human nature can be complex, metaphoric and restorative