Project (52)

FiftyTwo is a selection of portraits from my recent travels and life. With limited space in my backpack, I took a few markers and some sheets of paper that I ripped into squares to get more mileage out of them. When I returned my growing stack of drawings, collection of markers and continual practice had become my most valuable possessions. Drawing, for me, is seeking the truth of a subject: an act of love by documentation. While my goal is to meet the subject where they are, they inevitably struggle with the discomfort of being seen as well as seeing on the paper things they thought to be hidden or even that which is hidden from themselves. This tension can be evident in the work. My color use is often representational and composition experimental, undermining the vanity often associated with portraiture. I primarily draw by shooting photographs continually, documenting both the subject’s poses and the transitions between them; I then use the later. As quickly as I’ve collected subjects, I’ve collected marker pens. The range of various markers represents the countries I’ve traveled to, the loved ones who have supported me, and my investment in myself. Devoted practice and experimentation with photographic image, technique, style, composition, color and the boldness of markers has pushed me tremendously. Together, they combine as a medium through which I seek to connect with and express in physical reality the truth of what I see: an evolving connection to the ever moving intersection of those I capture and the lense I use to render those facets of being human.