Reveal
This series questions gender identities, interactions between humans and other animals, and mass media representations. Initially, I created photomontage pieces by hand, in the darkroom and/or on a scanner. Some works have moved towards fabricating small-scale photomontage models, which are photographed and printed digitally. The resulting photographs are reworked with traditional materials in order to bring about a more complex, layered depth, as well as to allow me to engage physically with the print. The velvety, deep black created by layers of charcoal is designed to enhance and obscure, just as the content of the work brings up issues that might be uncomfortable or accepted as the status quo.
Advertisements and the handmade mark, manipulation and destruction, beauty and deformity are melded together in this often dark and sometimes humorous series. The pieces re-contextualize photographic segments that are occasionally chosen from my own photographs, but are predominantly cut from popular magazines. The resulting works unravel conventional glossy presentations of sexuality and aesthetics that are often the backbone of such publications, offering a surreal, challenging alternative.