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My work consists of atypical family portraits, which document everyday moments in time. Most of the images are inside of my family members' domestic environments and some are in public places. While trying to show these scenes of everyday family life, often the goal is to create some humor in these settings as well.
The images are a dramatization of our lives, with an emphasis on the disturbingly mundane aspects. I want the viewer to relate to these photos, whether it is the depressing aspects or the humorous side of them.
My hope is that these images convey the questions that many of us have about the meaning of life and the times that almost seem irrelevant to "the big picture." These photographs can somewhat be thought of as the opposite of your typical portrait, where everyone is posing to be happy. This is the side you normally don't see in your everyday family photos.
In many of my photographs individuals sit or stand together. They are related and slightly uncomfortable. Most family photos are of people putting on their best face and smiling. However, my images show the families gazing blankly, capturing a sense of uneasiness not usually associated with a family picture. They are portraits of us together in different settings, showing a variety of relationships to one another and to our surroundings.
There is a humor about them and I feel their strength is in their ability to bring interest to what often seems like completely ordinary or boring situations.
Apron
This image, "Apron," is intended to be a comparison between a mother and a daughter. The mother represents a domestic feeling and the daughter represents a more modern feeling. Similarly, one side of the image has a warmer tone and feeling while the other is much cooler and more modern. Although the physical appearance represents difference, the similar emotion displayed on the faces represents their similarity. The image is expressionless because it's not meant to be a typical family photo but rather an ordinary moment in time; just the reality of everyday life. The blank stares and the woman wearing a Campbell's Soup apron brings humor to the image. I used myself and my mother as the subjects for this photograph.
