My work can best be defined as Conceptual Land Art.
I am interested in spaces, both physical and psychological and how the two relate to one another. I create site-specific projects in wide-open and extremely remote landscapes, where the severance from civilization creates distance from the “real” world. My projects exist only for a few hours or days at a time, before they are disassembled, and the landscape is returned to its original condition. I document the works through photography, video and text.
Because of my close connection to nature and the deep sense of responsibility I feel towards the planet, several of my installations address and call attention to environmental concerns. As a result, I pay close attention to the materials I use, often employing the elements around me as source material. I collect or borrow from nature and occasionally introduce man- or machine-made materials as subtle reminders of human civilization.
Performance and ritual also play an essential role in my work. Often, I use my own body in addition to what I find at a specific site, and the space takes on significance through the actions performed in it. During a project in Newfoundland I began developing a closer connection with the spirits of nature and started to cultivate an interest in Shamanism, which has become an important focus in my life and is inextricable from my work.
Another on-going concern I address in my work is the global phenomena of desertification. I am intrigued by deserts, as they are the most pure and magical landscapes on the planet. In a world where every possible resource is squeezed to its limits, human beings do not seem able of finding many ways to exploit desert lands, and they are left pure and almost untouched by human civilization.
Much of my work is created in the deserts of the American West, even though I am based in New York City. This dichotomy fuels my practice, and both places provide me with endless and disparate stimuli. I am able to work in incredibly isolated locales thanks to an Airstream trailer which becomes my traveling studio and hermitage for weeks at a time. When I find a site, I meditate with it, and after time I begin to work. My practice is a way of exploring solitude, and of becoming completely immersed in and with the land.
Airstream in Wide Open Prairie
Nebraska, 1997
My 1971 vintage Airstream trailer, which I adapted to become my studio and darkroom for traveling. It allows me to spend extended periods of time in remote sites in nature, without any contact with other humans and the rest of civilization.