Artist’s Statement: This series of photo-based work is from photographs I have been taking of people on rides at amusement parks, carnivals, and county fairs. One of my favorite places to take these photos is the Alameda County Fair. By blurring the distinctions between photography, digital manipulation, and oil painting, a synthesis is created, and the work becomes multilayered in meaning.

It all began with a dream I had about flying; that wonderful feeling of hovering over the landscape—just high enough to see everything, yet not a part of it. The swing ride represents flying, and may at first glance appear to be a nostalgic view of simpler times, perhaps a childhood past, that we often think of when we refer to “the good old days.”

But, more lies beneath the surface. On this ride the figures’ feet do not touch the ground and are “up in the air.” This represents our desire to escape the very gravity that holds us down, in order to live in a more light-hearted way, much as children do.

The movement of the ride, a circular swirl of blurred figures, is like our own personal journey through life—we are in a constant state of motion rushing past each other.

What we need to remember is that the present will become the past very quickly, and we should try our best to enjoy the ride we are on.