Emily in the Grass

Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes nipped at bare ankles

small, pink swells of flesh rising in their wake.

Sweet, sick mementos.

Oozing fluid and scratched with dirty nails.

Sock-less feet in Mary Janes collecting

rocks and leaves and blister that split

and cried onto hot skin.

We felt the sting of our own sweat in our eyes and tasted the salt on our tongues.

Soaking smocked dresses and muddying their hems.

The thick August air weighed heavy on our backs.

Our parents called our names

at the space between our narrow, freckled shoulders.

We kept forward.

We three pioneers of the other side of the picket fence,

Pressing deep into the suburban wood.

Roommate

New Work - SMFA

I dreamt she was drowning in a cloudy, hot puddle.

Barefoot on the asphalt I watched and couldn't move.

She began to melt away.

Into iridescent grease.

Rancid meat left out in the sun.

I heard our mother wailing, crying out to god.

She was a shadow, not quite reaching where I stood.

My feet on the parched, yellow grass.

Where we played in the dirt with sticks and shovels.

Where we sat in pools of water from the dripping garden hose.

Pagan treasures in our pockets.

Of rocks and teeth and tiny gold lockets.

We should have said our prayers.

Kept silky pink bows in our hair.

And cried harder over our dead dogs.

The End: Images From Senior BFA Exhibition

In the one hundred and seventy some odd years since the invention of the photograph, the medium has evolved as a science, an art, and as a cultural participant. Never before have we know such ease in the documentation of our lives. We are narcissistic beings entranced by the ability to reveal the intricacies of our lives to the world. We assemble personal narratives that allow us to dictate how others see us. Everything is editable. Just as much can be said about what we choose to omit as what we choose to include. The idea that a photograph brings validation to a time, a place, and event, has become deeply imbedded in our lives.

The people and places I photograph are familiar to me if not intimate parts of my life. The images walk a thin line between the staged and the candid. They are glorified snapshots. Teetering between personal nostalgia and cinematic storyline, the photographs form a narrative with associations only loosely implied. The questions that arise in the absence of information and the innately missing elements of the narrative are an essential component of the work. Light and shadow work to reinforce the tension between the seen and the unseen and perpetuate the duality of the sinister and the beautiful. We assert reality as what we can see. But, still, we cling to the belief that things remain even as darkness absorbs them. Similarly, we draw conclusions from what information we are given and project our own ideas and emotions onto the work. The lingering question of façade unites the work, as does the repeated reference to the everyday.

The mundane has inherent significance as it relates to our personal lives and relationships. It forms the vastest portion of our experiences. The everyday is who we are when we think no one is watching. The documentation and elevation of the ordinary and the familiar in my work serve as expressions of sentiment. Feelings of longing and melancholy are punctuated by aesthetic appreciation and attention to the beautiful. The photographs are a constructed memorial to the time and place in which I currently reside. They stagnantly reference the fluidity of life. Nothing is permanent and nothing is exactly as it seems.

This body of work combines an intellectual assessment of the photographic medium and documentation of the everyday with emotional expression and story telling. It is the culmination of a desire to express the love and frustration I feel towards my home in the South and my analysis of the cultural implications of the digital photograph.

FASA Show in Greenville

The Clemson Fine Arts Student Association had a chance to use this amazing space in the arts district downtown Greenville to show some student artwork a few weekends ago. There was a fabulous turnout and some really great art! Here are my three framed entries on their "oh so distressed" but beautiful wall.

Paige Glenn did a fabulous job organizing the show and I am glad I got some framing practice out of the way as I now have less than two weeks to build sixteen frames for my BFA senior show...

And speaking of my show! It is a group show of graduating seniors, Andraya Zavakos, Bradley Poole, Mollie Adams, Ellen Mundy, Sarah Johnson and myself. It runs Easter Sunday through the 29th of April. Reception is Friday the 29th from 6-8.

More details to come!

35mm Memories and Such

Ah, 35mm black and white film.

Yes. There was a lot more time involved in development. Yes. I acquired many a whole in my clothing from chemicals. Yes. My pupils freaked out from the running back and forth from darkroom to critique space. But, it was such a simpler time. Everything was... black and white.