3

I began this specific body of images entitled “You’re Gone,” as a source of cathartic exercises after I was faced with judicial reprimands that jeopardized my parental rights and could have resulted in the loss of custody to my children. These self portraits capture in effigy a latent sequence of deranged fears that dwell on that precise moment when the conduit within the psyche and the psychological detach, resulting in an inability to rationally cope with hardships. My isolated, lethargic figure implies the children’s absence and immediately renders all my worldly possessions, myself included, useless and cumbersome. My awkwardly displaced, contorted, semi-nude body amid recognizable domestic spaces and mundane tangible objects, is meant to provoke the viewer to redefine these sundry items’ originally intended, manufactured purpose. In this series, their functions have been transformed from tools that once facilitated the nurturing of my children, to now cruel reminders and icons that represent a devastating defeat.


Although I use myself as subject, the images are not strictly recalling one personal story. Most of us can relate to the feelings of angst and detachement from the self that are brought on by co-dependant relationships and love gone astray. At times, it is in our nature to deal with unpredictable loss with solitary confinement that is usually followed by an insatiable urge to fill this void with accumulated mementos. We either use these items to accept the loss and let go, or to replace what has become intagible. When the latter occurs, we assist in manipulating and transforming these items from material possessions, to methods that perpetuate denial and forbid our internal evolution.