Remains

"The years pass in their hundreds and their thousands, and what does any man see of life but a few summers, a few winters? We look at mountains and call them eternal, and so they seem.… But in the course of time, mountains rise and fall, rivers change their courses, stars fall from the sky, and great cities sink beneath the sea. Everything changes."  

George R.R. Martin, American Novelist  

I was initially drawn to still life photography by my appreciation for Vanitas Still Life paintings of the 17th Century Dutch masters. I am interested in the temporal state and Vanitas art seeks to look and consider that transient state of things and earthly possessions. I am intrigued by the changing temporal state of organic elements in nature and the elements forged by humankind in the pursuit of permanence. While many look for the ideal beauty in the perfected state of nature, I see in the remains an enduring beauty of the cyclical nature of life. This still life portfolio is an investigation into my observations of found remains of life. In my work, I explore the fleeting and fragile connection between nature and the human touch. I am continually in awe of nature’s power and beauty, of the energy of life, and how the fullness of that life is often revealed most dramatically in its decay. In the decay, I see the life that lived.