For decades I have observed & researched the human
experience. My
findings have inspired photographic installations, sculpture, performance, videos
and writings. My work is a contemporary translation and adaptation of the strong human desire
for ceremony and ritual in our lives, which often is barely accessible in contemporary society.
Deep within our culture is a rich heritage of ceremony and ritual, but this is rarely activated in
any kind of daily practice. Through a life consciously lived, rooted in private or community
ceremony and ritual, we are able to reach for, and sometimes touch, our very soul - at times - the
collective soul. Through ceremony and ritual, and various forms of genuine artwork, with sincere
effort and practice, we can coax this invisible knowing experience into the visible. A very clear
example of this can be found in the work of Alex Grey. And to quote Paul Klee, the act of
creating ART, very simply put, is … "making the invisible visible."
"Humans are new here. Above us, the galaxies dance out
tow
ard infinity. Under our feet is the
ancient earth. We are beautifully molded from this clay. Yet the smallest stone is millions of
years older than us." This vast universe seeks an echo through us, through our work. We are
the vehicle, the conduit, through which to bring universal/soul knowing into form so that we might
better understand. Through form (artwork), this knowing assists us in ushering our evolution
forward. By bringing the physical reference of sentient beings into visible form,
these contemporary scrolls are "intended as an oblique mirror in which you might come to glimpse the
presence and power of"… the inner and outer relationship to all sentient beings, and beyond
this…the collective life soul. In this work, the boundaries that contain form, such as the physical
body - be it human, animal, plant or earth - are suspended … and all life is seen and
experienced as ONE.
Anam is the Gaelic word for soul; cara is the word for friend. So anam cara means soul
friend.
The reference to "Anam Cara" and the quotes above, are borrowed
from Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom, by John O'Donohue, which so adeptly
aligns with concepts of the work presented here.
