Hello New Year. I can't say that it is a happy one for me. And maybe that is my first lesson of 2018: new beginnings don't have to be happy, they can just be. I've been sick and cooped up for a week. I was well taken care of and attended to by a house full of loving fuzzy pets and a doting husband. Despite reeling in the darkness I am a lucky woman.
I had time to reflect on my intentions for 2018. Sharing this body of work is one of them. I've been struggling with/contemplating the theory of free will. I circulate ideas of intentionality, then flip the switch and succumb to the lack of any outward control I thought I had. I try to allow myself to at least pretend to pursue my personal desires and goals. This series of moving still lives is intended to document deliberate human interaction with a simmultaneous release to randomness and chaos.
Most of my year was spent outside in my yard removing "invasive" trespassers on a unkept property, while cultivating native species and growing a garden for food and healing for me and some local wildlife. I also spent a good amount of time swimming and floating in our pool. I started to become obsessed with keeping critters from drowning; every kind of bug and frog. Unfortunately, I could never save the shrews that drowned in the night. It was always too late.
I began observing the changing flora together on an infinite back drop of blue. I decided to allow these relationships to unfold in space. I hadn't considered that I would also be abducting insects along with their homes. Some came willingly others were shocked at this strange new world and attempted to evacuate immediately. I of course removed them after a few shots. My intention wasn't to harm them. But really, was it even my choice?
For the remainder of this year my goal is to continue to "heal" the land that I care for to the best of my ability. I am going to let go of the perfection I once thought I could create and allow the darkness in with the light. The predators and prey are welcome here.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
Inhabitance and exploration of a new landscape inspired these curated organic arrangements. I submerged into my environment encountering ecosystems of native, cultivated and invasive species. Invasiveness is pervasive and I often find myself to be alien. These photographs represent my observations from the space where the unseen fabric of communication unfolds and the macro and micro coexist in an instance.
All of these images are available as 11x17 metal prints. Please contact me if you are interested in purchasing one. Thanks for reading and watching - Haley
