From my current research project, Blackdamp is concerned with the human-made alterations to the underground natural world. The photographs from this series were made in and around mine and cave sites in Appalachain Virginia and inland Ireland. The series is based around the environmental and psychological consequences of hundreds of years of mining, and how an astute understanding of the holes we make might offer some sort of salvation.

From my project Karst, this work considers the idea of a katabasis, a mythic descent into the subterranean underworld, as an allegory for exploration into memory and the subconscious. This project documents cave systems in the Appalachian Mountains in Southwestern Virginia, USA that my late father and I explored as a child. The panel on the left is a photograph of my father in a cave 30 years ago that I re-printed in silver, and the panel on the right is a photograph present-day of the aboveground world. Framed as sculptural signposts, the work examines the visual reconstructions we create while trying to understand how time and depth work in tandem.

Also from Karst, this piece reflects on the heightened moment of decision one faces when considering entering a subterranean or subconsious space. The work is shown installed on the floor atop black plywood panels, offering the viewer the experience of peering into the cave’s mouth at larger-than-life scale. Collage is important in my work - the process of overlapping images creates variations in form and presence, making touch an important element in the work.

Hybrid is from my project The Grotto, which is focused around the domestic aftermath of moments of transgression. The work was made by lifecasting a back, overlaying layers of silver nitrate emulsion onto it, adding hair, and beading the hair with handmade rose petal beads. Much of my sculptural work exists only to be photographed; I am intersted in exploring the contortions of the body through sculptural extensions. The hints of the underworld and of our unconscious that seep into the domestic realm show that the body, the spirit, our memory, and identity are not fixed.