Scenarios

I love my Midwestern family and friends and the snapshots that I have collected of them. It is the "Norman Rockwell" aspect of the photos that inspired me to juxtapose them with industrial landscapes that I have borrowed from other photographers during my forays at the library. I share a laissez faire approach to research and inspiration with the author W. G. Sebald, whose impulsive foraging of libraries he describes in the following way: "...I have to rush in and sit there for a week or two and collect things like someone who knows he has to leave before too long. You gather things up like a person who leaves a burning house, which means very randomly." In a similar vein, my own collections of photos come from friends, family, antique shops and library books. Writers are cautioned to write about what they know, and I take that advice to heart as I pay homage to the ordinary families in this corner of Appalachia and the impact of contemporary industry on their lives.

Exhibited in "Scenarios" at Zanesville Art Center, 2004*

*catalog with essay by Michelle Weinberg available