Valley of the Dolls

 This series is one that I photographed by constructing images on a scanner bed.  This form of photography is interesting because the image is being constructed on a flat glass surface.  The lighting becomes very bizarre because it is perfectly even and records every detail, then falls into a disturbing black.  I found that this series became about constriction and anxiety.  Many other interpretations can be made about this work, and I strongly believe that each viewer has the right to the validity of their own impressions.  As this series developed, it became very much about the idea of "process," and, in a sense, became meditative.  This began as I isolated myself in a dark environment to construct the images on the scanner, and then later expanded as I printed the images.  I printed these on an Epson Matte paper, and then cut them apart, sewing them systematically to a Gray BFK Rives printmakers paper.  I then used the chine collee printmaking process to cover parts of the images with a transparent tai kojo rice paper.  This process, as a whole, became ritualistic, meditative, and seemed to speak of a deeper story than what I have to offer as an explanation for the images.  I chose to post the original images, simply because the final product does not translate as well when scanned again and posted.