(11/10/2011) The “Waking Dreams” exhibit at Through This Lens Gallery  has ended and I find myself with much to be grateful for. The gallery hosted a lovely reception in September and a diverse collection of patrons came out to experience the series.

I spoke at the gallery on October 9 about my process and the stirrings that drive my work.

The Durham Arts Council camp visited the exhibit so students could experience various approaches to the medium of photography. I was pleased that my work fared well with the patrons, young and old.

Photomontage allows me to create a visual journal encapsulating and twisting together memories and bits of experience so they can play and sort themselves out. Each image holds special meaning for me, but I hope viewers can identify meaning in the images that resonates with their own memories and experience. I was pleased that columnist Blue Greenberg did just that in her Herald-Sun review of the “Waking Dreams” exhibit.

Greenberg likened the series to the work of pre-Rafaelite artists, and early photographers who would combine negatives from many pictures to create new images. She wrote that “… the work is beautifully constructed, handsomely finished and mysteriously captivating.” I am glad that others recognize the careful attention I give my work.

The columnist was particularly drawn to ‘She’s Come Undone’ in which  ‘a young woman swathed in linen… tries unsuccessfully to gather up the fabric which falls from her reach and covers the floor. She stands at the entryway of a long, menacing hall. Is she trying to run away? Is she in danger?’

She might be. Or is she thinking about shedding the layers of fabric that have bound her for so long?

That is for you to decide.