When I enter a place in the landscape I want to photograph I move through it initially looking at the mythology that already exists there.  Following, I look at how I can direct or influence my perception of the space with my own iconography. I may rearrange rocks, draw in the sand, wait for different influences of light, photograph my shadow against the rocks, use various cameras to capture certain aspects of that landscape.  As I start to direct these elements, things happen unexpectedly where I realize I am not the director at all. The immediacy of some of these moments are often serendipitous and make me question who is the real creator of this experience? I view the landscape as my teacher; one that sees through me; helps me find my way, knows more than I know. It allows me to live immediately through moments that occur when I am out there with my camera.

My use of bi-lateral symmetry in some of these new works, a mirroring technique, leads to an extension of and transformation of that space. In addition, in this group, I have chosen to use my shadow as a transparent overlay, a visionary tool, in a process of co-creation with the landscape.

The jade green colour I have chose in these images could be said to be a colour that is life-giving, a symbol of power.  This hue is essential to substance and being and historically indicative of the state of the matters of the heart. An amulet of jade may also be worn for protection and to guard against misfortune.

My amulets are these rocks, these trees with their diverse expression of light and form, small delicate shapes found in an indentation in the sand or dirt, human intervention/symbols carved into a suburban or rural landscape. They offer their iconography and their ornamentation, their protection, out there, while I develop my story.

The land’s ability to create, adapt and recreate, is similar to the human spirits’ flexibility and inventiveness to do the same and are factors that continue to promote this visual dialogue and sisterhood I feel with the natural environment.

 

Photographs are produced as Open Editioned Chromogenic Light Jet Prints on Archival Metallic Photographic Paper.