The Headstone Project
Started during the pandemic (as did so many things,) when I was fortunate enough to be hired by the Wood County Museum to help the curator maintain and update the exhibits and help maintenance with the upkeep of the historic building(s). At the time, the museum was closed to the public which afforded me the opportunity to photograph the buildings and grounds un-impeded by anyone other than museum staff. It was during this period that I started the project of creating a photographic portrait of each one of the headstones standing in the cemetery.
The idea was to treat each headstone as a person and try to find a sense of character and purpose for each “numbered stone.” It was also an artistic challenge for myself in trying to come up with unique compositions for each and every headstone, which essentially, are all similar repeating white rectangles stuck in the ground.
It was also an attempt to document a neglected and relatively obscure part of the American landscape. In neglecting such histories we risk forgetting the individuals who helped to create and mould who we are today. The histories of the poor and disenfranchised are just as important as those of the wealthy and powerful, if not even more so. A society is remembered for how it treats its people, not in how it treats its rulers.
Puppetry Projects
I have been making my own puppets since I was a young kid. Little did I know then that I would still be getting to make them so many years later and actually get paid for them!
I focus mostly on shadow puppetry in my own personal projects, but that isn't a truism by any means and I can build a client any type of puppet that they can imagine and afford.
That said, I am a big believer in the "keep it simple stupid" school of solving technical design challenges. Nothing screw's up a project more than adding unnecessary technology...
So, while thousand dollar animatronics are cool, the most emotionally intense and memorable performances I have seen have been simple puppets in the hands of very well trained puppeteers. I have also seen novice performers tell the most profound of stories using only their hands, a few found objects and lots of imagination.
NO TRESPASSING! The Closed Door Project
Closed doors in old buildings and out of the way places have always fascinated me, especially when they are locked and say cryptic things like "No Trespassing" or "Forbidden". I mean, that's just begging for people to open them and molest the threshold as they say...
Really, I think a lot of the discussion around restriction of access to property should not be framed in terms of trespass and ownership but it terms of class and social regulation. That said, public safety is a real issue (I trust the government to keep me safe even less than I trust them to keep things fair and equal) and while I do document the doors I never do go beyond them.