The Notion of Love

BFA Student

Major: Photography

Graduation Year: 2016

Artist Statement:

My photographs are based on humans and their interactions with me and my emotions, and memories, specifically referring to the notion of love. I use light to create a narrative based on memory. The presence and absence of light fascinates me and I use light as a tool within my work. People have always fascinated me. Human interaction is one of the most curious things. I stage photographs using interactions I have had with people in the past, or currently, in order to create images that tell a universal story. I use people I am closest with, or with whom I have had relationships, to capture my stories. I find it more authentic and believable if they are people I know playing the roles, rather than strangers to me.

I am made up of emotions; they consume me. I have used these emotions to my advantage; specifically anger, sadness, passion, and lust -- emotions that other people can easily relate to. I portray these feelings in my work in order to captivate the viewer. It is important that the viewer knows these are my own feelings, not fiction, because it makes it easier to enter the work.
Everyone has memories, bad and good -- those they want to forget, and those they specifically want to remember. For me, the most interesting memories are the bad ones, the ones we want to forget. Those experiences help shape us. I choose to portray those memories because I want to see how they translate into photographs, as a way to work through them, a way to grow.