Manmade Disasters
Inspired primarily by photographs from the New York Times, my drawings in gunpowder and graphite are testaments of recent history. The 1999 war in Kosovo initiated the first of these pieces and since then violent events worldwide, both natural and man-made continue to inform my work. Along with images of smoke clouds from smoldering oil fields and bombed cities, crevices caused by drought or earthquake, and the wild waters of a flood or hurricane, I have rendered human casualties – anonymous, veiled, alive, and lifeless. In her book, Regarding the Pain of Others, Susan Sontag examines the photographic depiction of war and disaster and discusses the spectrum of impact these images can have. My primary objective is to distill, encapsulate, and visually present complex issues with equanimity.
