The depiction of loss is an enduring, although often uncomfortable, image within all cultures and across recorded time. Images and stories of loss can be found in ancient mythologies, religious scrolls, European fables, native lore, contemporary psychological archetypes, as well as throughout the range of artistic imagery produced by virtually every society. To truly know loss is to understand the vulnerability of the human experience......

LOSS is a universal experience for both men and women. However, in this exhibit, I wanted to allow everyone to glimpse the intimate journey of woman sensing and coping with loss. I have used photographs to captures these rare and personal images. Four gifted models, some professional performers, others wives and mothers, helped me create this body of work in the summer of 2004.

Loss can be tragic. But it can also, with patience, struggle and persistence, direct the individual toward metamorphosis, growth and renewal. The images of youth that you will see in this exhibit exemplify not only the struggle but also the potential victory within loss. Contrary to the messages of our modern society, a young person - in these examples, young women - must confront many struggles: for identity, the search for a place in the world, for meaningful work, for love. I don’t know many people over fifty who would willingly go back to their twenties or thirties.

The older I have become, the more grateful I am for the freedom and joy found in what our society calls middle or old age. That is why the concluding photographs depict older women with a power and spiritual clarity unusual (although not unheard of) in the young.

The photographs found their own order as I put the show together, just as I found, in the language of Emily Dickinson, the feeling in words for many of their titles. I have also used the words of Erica Jong, James Joyce, Robert Frost, Katherine Mansfield and William Shakespeare. But it is Emily’s language that illuminates the majority of these images.

Emily's following poem, expresses, in part, the theme of the show. Read it and you will be reminded of our high expectations as life’s journey begins, being met with many harsh truths, and recognizing and responding to the futility of false hopes and dreams.

 

Finding is the first Act
The second, loss,
Third, Expedition for The Golden Fleece
Fourth, no Discovery -
Fifth - no Crew -
Finally, no Golden Fleece
Jason - sham, too.

Emily Dickinson (Poem 870, ca. 1864)

.

Back to the Images | Print Purchase Info | Index Page

.....