My artwork explores photographic perception and the physical and cultural formation of place. I am interested in photography’s ability to be evidence of existence—creating an image with seeming veracity—and simultaneously, a system to mediate and construct reality. I use photography as a tool to observe and then digitally combine my photographs to build spaces that do not exist, allowing the creation of images that, through metaphor and illusion, reveal both the desire and simulacrum present around us and within photography itself.
Familiar elements such as the lawn, manicured and manipulated plants, and new buildings that mimic other eras and locations, reveal a culture of perpetual longing. The urban landscape is often a post-modern offering of architecture, simulating or referencing different periods or locations. This simulation reveals the desire for what is referenced, and the majority of our landscapes - built for the car and continuous growth – embody an aspirational forward momentum within their infrastructure. My photographs and videos seek out this longing and desire while echoing the cultural, historical, and perceptual forces that impact our experience of place.
Working with thousands of individual photographs I make of architecture and landscaping; I digitally assemble these sources to create photographs and videos of imaginary spaces. Some images have veracity but often suggest a visual hyperbole – an embellished scene circulating around a small object or detail. Most of the digital collages are seamless enough so that, on first glance, the photographs and videos appear real and slowly through observation, reveal their constructed, composited nature. There is a delicate balance of truth and fiction in my work. My images are not documents of reality but could be considered documents of our contemporary, post-truth, post-modern reality.
Selected additional Information:
Chapter dedicated to work from This Place in Theories in Digital Composite Photographs: 12 Artists and Their Work by Yihui Huang
Interview with Sarah Borst about work from Cinder Blocks and Cherry Blossoms, Aint-Bad, 2015