Artist statement
So much is barely discernible. The streets may be cloaked in fog. The snow covers the dark ground. Waves in a lake break a mirror-like surface. The sun's glare dissolves solid shapes and brings life to inanimate objects. The real meanings of words arrive well after they've been spoken. Something solid may dissolve quite suddenly. Everything is illuminated and shifts form and tone.
I began taking photographs in earnest at a time that I would describe like this: A dense fog blanketed the city, and then I forgot the city was there, And then I too began to disappear. After a time, the sun burned through the haze enough that I could see its yellow shape. Then I felt its warmth and I realized that the same sun that warmed me also made me visible.
Moments like that, when the hidden appears, or the visible begins to fade, feel decisive to me, because of my lived experience.
With my photography, I keep trying to tell the story of the appearance of things that are barely discernible.
My work
This website is a record of some of my photographic interests: streets; buildings; sky; forest; water; people; dissolving, resurfacing, shimmering. Almost all the images here were taken in the past 8 years. I have shared many on socials, and often I write statements that refer to or expand upon the photos being shared. Sometimes a photo seems to tell a story, and sometimes it invites some extra words. Where it seems most appropriate, I have included some writing here.
The sequence of photos called Lockdown is about the pandemic. Concussion is a series of self-portraits addressing an injury I sustained twice in the span of two years. When I began sharing those photos about my concussion, I learned about how common - and yet desolate - the concussion experience is. Another series, called Little Shouts, expresses an attempt to expand my sight, to see things in their details and textures, and to reach out to other photographers who were doing work I admired but were different from me. I wonder how those textures show up in my landscapes or images of people. Decisive Moment is a series about an island I've filmed many times over the years, at various moments that seemed to convey the multiple feelings or states that island evokes. Italy/the African Man, is about that country and a man I saw there. I tried to keep the other themes simple: air, water, and so on.
Biography
I live and work in Montreal, Canada, and I have a place on a lake in the woods. When I'm fortunate enough to travel, my camera comes with me. My photos reflect where I am, and what I feel when I'm taking the pictures.
I film
what
I feel I see
I received an MA, Visual and Media Arts from the Université du Québec à Montréal. My work has been shown in many galleries in Canada, in addition to film festivals in France and Germany.
I have done commissions for Smythe, a fashion label in Toronto, and the Université de Québec en Outaouais.