MORNING AS MADE, MOON AS MAID

Our family summer at the beach was ending, and I had the crazy idea to up and move us across the country from New York City to Florida. We were tired of sirens and cement and craved sunlight and stars.  All of us were ready for a change. 

One week later, my husband and daughter were on a flight to Florida so that she could start high school two weeks late.  Another week after that, my son and I joined them. We had packed our lives in our suitcases and shipped down a few boxes; the four of us lived with only necessities in a two-room hotel suite for three weeks while we found a rental house.  

We left our secure home for the unknown and landed feet first, wind in our hair and sand everywhere, ready to grasp each day’s light and pleasures.  

For the first time in my life, I’ve pushed aside obligations for freedom. For the first time in my life, I’ve been truly spontaneous. And after years of conventionality, I’ve bloomed.

This project–“Morning as Made, Moon as Maid”--consists of original fixed lumens, scans of unfixed lumens, and grids of photographs. During my early childhood, I learned how fleeting life can be, and I tried to save memories as if locked in a safe box. I began appreciating the smallest of gestures, knowing that they could come to an unexpected end.  By choosing to work with photographic paper and creating with my hands in complete darkness and bright sunlight, I am acknowledging both the pain and the light of my past, as well as my recent shift toward the extraordinary, both meditative and explosive. The photograms dance between the fleeting and the permanent, while the grids of photographs document overlooked experiences and undervalued beauty. “Morning as Made, Moon as Maid” explores both how our lives are shaped by means beyond our control and how we might reclaim ourselves.

(More images and text available upon request.)