My work was inspired by a series of vivid and transformative dreams of elongated and undulating imagery influenced by a painting my grandfather had made titled: Mangbetu Women, The Congo, 1931. Not long after the dreams occurred, I searched for ways to elongate my images, as I had seen them, and began photographing with the mirror in 1983. I continue to use the mirror as a visual interpreter for the invisible forces that bind the forms of life together; each one connected through a pulsing, writhing sea of forms and shapes, from the great to the small, the complex to the simple. The mirror is a creative tool, like a paintbrush or pencil that allows me to draw a doorway to another world and travel inward into a place of spirit, strength and beauty; a dwelling place common to the human soul.
My prints have no digital special effects or computer modifications of any kind. All of my prints are made from negatives shot on KODAK TRI-X film and the prints, 30 x 40 inches and under, are made on gelatin silver photographic paper and are made by me. Each of my photographs is gold toned using a combination of processes I worked out 20 years ago. The gold toning casts a silvery blue in the highlights and warm brown in the shadow area of the print giving the print a slight split toned effect.
