Excavation

Excavation is an ongoing body of photographs I began in 2006. Since the natural landscape is considered expendable in our culture, the surface scars we create seemed like an intriguing subject to explore. I selected sites that were excavated long ago, and at first I focused on the surprising forms and colors created by erosion. Soon I began adding throwaways to the compositions. Like the land, much of the stuff we buy is considered disposable and makes its way to sites like these. The photographs utilize the scarred landscape as a context for the stuff we abandon.

The word excavation conjures up digging for some ancient ruin. And while archeologists try to reconstruct a logical narrative from discarded objects, my purpose is to create a more poetic interpretation. I carefully select the items to be included in the compositions, based on my intuitive sense of the contradictions inherent in our culture—a range as quirky and mysterious as our mode of existence.