New Statement for Spirit Series (now named The Ubiquity of the Spirit)

The project is evolving for me and I've just re-written my artist statement (again).


The Ubiquity of The Spirit is a photographic project that uses conventional photographic methods in order to present the technically invisible entity called the “soul.”

In a world increasingly defined by Hyperreality, and over-commodified realities, individuals often complain of an emptiness, of alienation from authenticity. But each one of us of course maintains an inner self. As a personal and theoretical investigation, I have set out to photograph this soul, the spirit, a non-corporeal body, as it travels along this or other planes of existence. I find that the process of creating these photographs involves a degree of performance, a component I am working to accentuate as the project progresses. The final prints, to be completed in editions at 30x40 and 20x30 inches, will become Hyperreal objects depicting a simulated reality working to place a deeper, but hidden reality, onto film.

Photography itself is a key ingredient in most depictions of simulated reality. In The Ubiquity of The Spirit series, I photograph an inauthentic object -- a human being performing as a model, in order to represent the inner existence of the human being. Throughout much of human history this inner existence has been considered at least as important, if not more so, than the external appearance presented to the material world. In contemporary American/Western/Globalized civilization this condition has been reversed. However, the inner existence remains.

In these photographs the soul is represented by one or more figures photographed during long exposures. Originally inspired by Nature while completing a residency at Grand Canyon National Park, I photographed the Spirits in landscape. I am now also working within the more modified urban environment.