Project Statement: Recombinants

---

For months I asked anyone and everyone who walked through my front door to sit for a portrait in the makeshift studio I had installed in my living room. The “studio” consisted of a chair in front of a white backdrop and in front of that, a couple of lights and a 4×5 camera on a tripod.

By the time I had stopped photographing, I had amassed a sizable collection of people, some whom I knew, some I sort of knew and others I didn’t know at all (UPS driver, neighbor walking down the street).

At the time, I was thinking about two things: about physically manipulating the photograph, and about human connection and what ties people together into a tribe, or a family. Influenced by the idea of genetic recombination, I decided to create a hybrid clan by splicing together features from these disparate faces. I cut, wove, stapled, stitched and taped together until a new tribe emerged.

It was surprising and gratifying to see how well some of the recombinants blended. And it was especially exciting to break from the traditional execution of photography by using the photograph as pliable, workable raw material.
[Return to the Gallery]