I use the camera to investigate photography's role in visual culture, specifically relating to notions of veracity and authenticity in a post-truth era. My practice is at once an escape from, and a reaction to, a tenuous moment in history when collective reality is being split into many parallel, alternate experiences.
The series “Is & Isn’t” features an ongoing collection of unmanipulated yet uncanny trompe-l'œil photographs. The snapshot-like images create a wandering journey through optical illusions, transporting the viewer to a foreign yet familiar place. These intimate 35mm film photographs are a negotiation of place, featuring layered and paradoxical imagery—inside vs. outside, genuine vs. artificial. I seek repeated subject matter to make sense of reality and representation. My photographic vocabulary employs scale, color, and visual puzzles to underscore the fine line between fact and fiction. The project adopts a vertical 16:10 format, a deliberate response to the visual language of the smartphone interface and the scrolling habits that shape how contemporary audiences engage with images.
While I am intrigued by the increasing prevalence of AI-generated images within the art world, as a counterpoint I have chosen an analog process of film photography to capture perplexing and surreal moments that already exist in the material world. This work is my response to a broader political circumstance and cultural context in which the concept of truth is more pressing than ever.
