Untitled

Foliage and leaves on the ground at night.

Artist Statement: "Quietus was born after the sudden loss of my mother and the soon thereafter loss of my marriage. I spent six weeks camping alone in Northern California and started photographing my surroundings. I became so intrigued with the results that I continued to photograph in remote locations over a period that became three years. During this time, I became more and more intrigued with the tragedies that come with life and how the mind works through immense suffering that one could face. I found tranquility from my own anguish by escaping to the solitude of the woods where I was shielded by the trees and in the safeguard of my imagination.

In this work, I am deeply involved with the investigation of the human condition, specifically with notions of loss, grief and death through my relationship with the wilderness. While photographing, I immerse myself for extended periods of time in places that she the familiarities of sensation to those I seek solace: the coldness, the shaded yet emerging light, the sharp smell of the trees, and the calm quiet of the woods.

The intensely dark and ambiguous black and white prints are visual manifestations of my experience while absorbed in nature. I form very altered sense of scale and perspective through my anomalous viewpoint and the distortion created by the selective focus. The imagery and my process of working echo my selective and confusing memory of traumatic events and internal inquiry. I asked myself many questions while photographing and making the images was the way in which I sought answers."