This body of work is an experimentation of mixed media as well as an interpretation of my personal family history. This work has sprouted from my early childhood days when I would visit my great-grandma every week and she would show me old photos and tell me stories about them. Even today, I ask my grandparents questions about photos I find and they tell me new stories.
Color, texture, composition, and the contrast of abstraction and realism are key elements in the making of my work. The more realistic features are used to highlight what it is that I find most important in the photos I use. I like to use a square cut-out and find areas of the photos that I find most interesting. Often, it will be really small details you wouldn’t otherwise notice in the photos; things that stand out to me or remind me of the stories I have been told. The use of abstraction gives the work the feeling of the past. For example, I use a washed out ghost-like effect on certain background objects rather than giving them full detail. Texture has become extremely important in the evolution of this work. Adding texture to the various pieces is to give a more home-like feeling and to make the viewer connect to the work in a more personal way.
