Artist Statement

The images comprised in my series, Separately Together, are autobiographical, personal and honest. They hold a voyeuristic nature, which reveals their ambiguity making the viewer have a sense of not knowing and then knowing. The ambiguity is empowered by the obscuring of the face, leaving the figure questionable and the audience in question. My intention for the promiscuous nature of the images is to confuse and demand time from the viewer to look past what is on the surface. I hope to create a tension that is echoed by the predominance of the human figures and the uncanny composition. The images are to raise emotions such as uncertainty, suspicion, and voyeurism about two particular figures. Through the portrayal of a filmic narrative, I am shifting the emphasis onto the viewer, forcing them to bring their own assumptions and misconceptions to the narration. The awkward poses and unusual postures allow a certain kind of vulnerability and intimacy, which creates a curious underlying relationship between the audience and the photographs. The particular pairing the final images will have will allow them to collaboratively work together strongly as a series but at the same time, they will not be dependant of each other. This pairing will let the viewer know that more than one person is involved within the frame, which can lead to different forms and guises of reactions, such as skepticism, insecurity, and exploitative tensions. Through these reactions, the fascination of observation is exposed, as the images hold interests that compel the viewer to want to look and see and ultimately the viewers themselves become the narrators.