another project i will be unveiling at fotofest is a work in progress called drawn to water. I am posting a draft of my artists statement and a small selection of images, all from one long weekend in edgemont, n.c.:
Drawn to water
This is a work in progress. I began this project with a mind to return to my roots of documentary work and for my subject I was initially attracted to the the notion of fishing piers along the eastern seaboard and how they served as a kind of "Main Street" for its beaches. But now I keep coming back to the simple idea that we, as humans, seem drawn to water. Life as we know it does not exist without water.
Water calls to us as human beings. We are mostly made up of the stuff. We are pulled towards it for many reasons… for health, pleasure, sustenance, for mind and body, for spiritual rites and rituals. It is where the otherwise modest will "let it all hang out". Water attracts every race and social strata. It can calm us or frighten us. It can be a place of isolation and lone meditation or a location where one rubs shoulders with complete strangers. This project focuses on the interactions that are commonly found around oceans and beaches or along rivers and lakes, where a swimming hole or waterfall becomes a gathering place.
