RECENT WORKS
Witness Marks
2018-Ongoing
Archival pigment prints
Images from Witness Marks in the “Chronicles: The Great Depression and the Pandemic” exhibition at the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio, Lancaster, OH
Originally begun in 2018, the advent of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 spurred an evolution of this project, causing me to reconsider my relationship not only to my home environment, but to all the spaces I move through and inhabit.
At a time when isolation and distance in multiple forms became necessary facts of life, Witness Marks began to imagine a visual conversation about human presence and transience that spoke to a lingering feeling of no longer belonging in a place you once called home. Text and everyday objects became opportunities to comment not only on my internal state, but also on the confusion and distress that most of us were feeling.
For close to a decade, many people have been trying to make sense of the world. At times, feeling helpless and disempowered has seemed like a permanent reality, despite quiet moments of grace that have leavened the overall state of turmoil. Photographing ephemeral moments of human existence throughout these years has been an act of belief on my part that I can eventually feel at home in the world again.
Click here for more information on the traveling exhibition, installation views, technical specifications, and related educational programming.
Jane Alden Stevens talks about the beginnings of Witness Marks in this video sponsored by FotoFocus.
