Artist Statement
My first thoughts about death occurred in the cemetery down the street from where I grew up. As a child, I spent hours reading the names and dates, wondering what death had felt like to those resting below and to those left behind. I was touched by how nature seemed to rise above the sense of loss and grief, and knew it contributed to the nurturing and peaceful atmosphere. Now, decades later, I find myself back in the cemetery where early childhood thoughts about what remains informs my work.
The landscape of the cemetery provides a space to contemplate the dialogue between the literal remains of death and the ethereal impermanence of the human spirit. The poet John O’Donohue describes a “threshold” that allows us to experience something beyond our limited imagination of what death means. For me, a simple mirror is the portal with which to explore this threshold, helping find the answers to what remains both here on earth and above.
My work seeks to find the elusive relationship between life and death. To celebrate what has been left behind, and to stand in awe of that which is eternal.
