Screenshots
2010 - 2012
Since moving to London, I stay connected to distant friends and family by using video chat programs such as Skype and Gmail video. We are using photographic images for a new purpose: not to preserve the past, but to communicate in the present. The camera, once an intrusive third eye, has become a conduit for intimacy. The "subjects" actively present their own image. The portrait becomes a transmission- of light, of emotion.
Starting from immaterial digital screenshots, I rebuild these portraits in various media, including glass, wax, and paint. In each case, the resulting image retains sensitivity to light, becoming visible or invisible, positive or negative, depending on the lighting. These works are born of our time, but reminsicent of old photography's darkroom magic.