Some fifteen years ago, I was a young man hitchhiking through Sub-Saharan Africa. The first six months left me ten kilograms underweight and with a head full of accidental dreadlocks. This is when I made my first photograph that could truly stand on its own. Despite having used a camera for nearly a dozen years, I honestly doubt I had the life experience, or any meaningful appreciation of the world around me to decently create anything.
The subject of this first photograph was ostensibly an older Xhosa woman sitting across from me in a train car still labeled for “Black Use Only.” She and I had been winding our way through the Transvaal for hours, telling stories of our lives, our homelands and our families before I asked if I could take her photo. She agreed, and the process was nearly instantaneous. I honestly cannot remember things like shutter speed or f-stop, only the resolute expression of the tired woman, the sound of her voice in halting English and the smell of that noisy, unheated compartment. In some small way, photography captured this all in a raw two-dimensional form.
The next year, when I returned to the United States, I began to go through the hundreds of photographs I had made. Some images began to enucleate experiential memories themselves. I came to appreciate these very few images as relating very distinct stories and my own interpretations of the landscape, of the region’s political transformation and of the personal relationships I made. The revelation of this editing process came from my personal discovery of the power of photography to convey emotion, to offer narrative beyond words and elicit a response in the viewer at a most visceral level. Since then, I have learned to better manipulate materials to compound layers of artifice, consequently, my image making has been made more succinct and idiosyncratic. At the most elemental level, my photography is always about conveying my stories, whether it is elaborately constructed in a computer, a studio or found out in the world; at its best, it is an expressive narrative.
Over the years, I have found photography is the medium that best elucidates my interpretations of politics, relationships, emotions and the reality I walk in. The inspiration for a shot may be as simple as a dream or an observation, but the finished image considers the experience gathered every day engaged in this world. After I create my photos they leave the darkroom or printer and are added to some nebulous, ineffable world of human creativity well beyond my own hands. I have not looked for rewards, only the ability to speak more clearly and create a body of work that contributes to a greater collective memory.
PARTIAL LISTING OF EXHIBITIONS, AWARDS AND PUBLICATIONS:
The Darkroom Gallery, Essex Vermont, Group exhibition and publication “The Human Form,” February 2012. Special Jurist “Honorable Mention” www.darkroomgallery.com/ex24
The Dirty Show, February 2012. www.dirtydetroit.com
Memphremagog Arts Collaborative Exhibiting Co-Op Member. Northeast Kingdom, Vermont. 2010-Presenthttp://www.memphremagogartscollaborative.com/
Vermont Photography Workplace. Middlebury, Vermont, Group exhibition and publication “Pose and Gesture,” February 2011www.vtphotoworkplace.com/id98.html
The Dirty Show, February 2011. www.dirtydetroit.com/
Maestro Traiteur Montréal, Quebec Solo Exhibition, Throughout September 2010. http://maestro-traiteur.blogspot.com
Vermont Photography Workplace. Middlebury, Vermont, Group exhibition and publication “Flight,” August 2010www.vtphotoworkplace.com/id83.html
Muskegon Museum of Art. 82th Regional Exhibition. Purchase Prize. June 2010. www.muskegonartmuseum.org
Photolife Magazine’s ”Emerging Canadian Talent 2010.” Works published August/September 2010 issue. www.photolife.com
Graphis 2010 Annual of Contemporary Photography Gold Medal and publication http://www.amazon.com/Photography-Annua … amp;sr=8-1
Muskegon Museum of Art. 81th Regional Exhibition. Purchase Prize. June 2010. www.muskegonartmuseum.org
Detroit Dirty Show, February, 2010. www.dirtyshow.org
Holland Arts Council. 46th Annual Juried Fine Art Competition www.HollandArts.org
Crystal Lake Art Center, Instructor of photography and digital image manipulation, 2007-2009 www.crystallakeartcenter.org
The Dirty Show, Februrary 2009, www.DirtyShow.org
Muskegon Museum of Art. 79th Regional Exhibition. Special Jurist Selection. June 2009. www.muskegonartmuseum.org
Governor’s Residence Michigan Artists Program 2008 Two photographs selected to hang in the Governor’s official residence in Lansingwww.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168–129731–,00.html
Whitespace Gallery, Solo Exhibition, November 2008, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario www.mattceolin.ca/new_contemporary_natu … cadia.html
Alden B. Dow Museum of Science & Art. November 2008, Midland, Michigan. Greater Michigan Art Exhibition. Special Jury Prize www.mcfta.org
Muskegon Museum of Art. 78th Regional Exhibition. Special Jurist Selection. June 2008. www.muskegonartmuseum.org
Shiawassee Arts Council, Owasso, Michigan. July 2006. 13th Annual Juried Show. Purchase Prize www.shiawasseearts.org
Congregational Summer Assembly, Photography instructor, 2007 Pilgrim, Michigan www.summerassembly.org
The Body Gallery, Solo Exhibition, November 2005 – January 2006, Ludington, Michigan
ERC, Solo Exhibition, January – March 2002, East Lansing, Michigan
Photo Imaging Education Association. May 2003-June 2005 International Competition and Exhibition, “Gallery of Winners” Touring exhibition.www.pieapma.org
Music Revue Special Supplement: Fashion January 2005, February 2005, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Upfront Magazine, Cover Image, January, 2000, Winsor, Ontario
Fluid Magazine, Featured Artist, November, 2005, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Northern Express Magazine, January, 2007. Traverse City, Michigan