Whispers Across Time
As children we would sit in a circle and start the whisper game.
Each child would whisper what they heard to the next child, by the time it reached the end of the circle the whisper had changed beyond recognition. These works are the visual equivalent.
The image of each girl transitions through various processes, to become another translation of a portrait. The pathway goes from living person, to a photographic fragment a record of their existence, to a scanned file, to a computer screen, to a blind contour drawing in ink, with oil paint intervention, to a monotype print.
In ways related to surrealist strategies, I reach for the essence of the subject or idea through deep observation, releasing visual control and allowing the unexpected to unfold.
All the elements of the whisper game exist in these pieces - transformation, surprise, amusement, and wonder. An entirely new image appears in the form of a monotype drawing.
Each evolves like a whisper across time….