Artist Statement

At the moment, my artistic practice primarily consists of photographs that illustrate disconnections, displacement and distortions that personally relate to me and past experiences of mine.

Recently, I have been focusing on the idea of distorting reality and questioning what reality means. This concept has stemmed from investigating lucid dreams and nightmares from my past; dreams that I have confused with reality for only a moments time-- briefly believing that what occurred while I was unconscious actually happened and is completely factual. In these dreams, many times I am able to see and watch my own self through a lens and predict my own actions. For example, I once had a nightmare where I was viewing myself sleeping from a night vision security camera, while watching an intruder circle my bed, waiting to attack me. After further investigation, it seemed as if my mind was partially awake and in reality, while the other half was hallucinating. While dreaming, I was also capable of thinking of solutions for what I could do to get the intruder out of my house. This raises the question: are lucid dreams a form of reality? Are dreams merely a distortion of reality? Is it possible to have an “out of body” experience while dreaming? What is the difference? 

Bouncing off of this concept, I have become intrigued by the subjective, psychiactric term derealization and the feeling that the external world seems unreal. In my latest project, I have begun creating scenes where reality has been altered or changed, resembling dream-like states. I’m interested in depicting the hallucinatory quality of a dream while still showing a sense of realism. I’m interested in knowing where the audience is transported when viewing these. I want the audience to question their own dreams and ask themselves what the difference is between dreams and their idea of what reality is. 

Does reality exist only when we observe it?