Fugue: A Dreamlike State

Fugue: A Dreamlike State, reflects the intersection of my interest in cultural documentary photography with folklore and storytelling. I am interested in how fables and fairy tales represent archetypal ideas in our collective unconscious.

I explore these themes through the framework of the fugue state; a dreamlike condition of altered consciousness that may last for hours or days, during which a person loses his or her memory and often wanders away. To create a surreal landscape for my characters and suggest an altered reality, I choose to work with chromoskedasic painting. Working the images with chemistry during the development, I fabricate individual environments within which to create enigmatic portraits. Each silver gelatin print is unique.

Conceptually, my manipulated photographs represent a visual translation of magical realism in fiction, blurring the edges of belief. Technically, I am interested in pushing the visual boundary between where the photographic image begins and ends.