My stop-motion “photo-movies” are other examples of the fission and fusion process composed of separate photographic instances. Their subject matter undergoes fracturing as eggs are crushed, waves of water and reflections are examined calling the viewer into both depth and surface observation, and strands of hairs are wound and unwound. In cropping, formatting and reassembling these instances into both still prints that exist and can be viewed simultaneously - as well as video animated sequences whose flow and pacing resembles that of breathing or the beating heart - I question how our perspectives can be both individual and collective. The content of the movies varies but includes the earth, and the act of digging or excavating, the process of aging, matter becoming diffuse, water as a carrier/barrier, smoke as evidence of air and fire, and oral language – a journey of the psyche through the material realms. These stills are shot while video projected through sheets of transparent film, blown by a fan. They represent a concern with penetration from one realm into another – below or beneath the conscious.

My father served as a railroad transit officer in the US Army during World War Two. While stationed in Namur Belgium, he and his company transported goods, weapons, and sometimes liberated prisoners from Nazi camps. Through it all he took numerous photographs and wrote letters home to my mother (who was pregnant with my oldest brother). After they past, I inherited my parents photo archives, which included these images and letters. I have created montages whose titles usually come from notes on the back of photos dad sent home to mom. Most of the imagery is of post-war devastation in Europe, but the tone of his writing is unusually positive and full of love, leading to the title for the series, "Love and War"