ARTIST STATEMENT

Spiraling outward and inward from the spell of the sensual engagement with the biosphere, I work with the primal gut-punch of encounter with the other, the desired interaction with not-human, and lived-amidst place we come to love.
All societies manifest a need for the wild, alongside that for the safety given by our self sequestering into urban termite mound-like cities.  It springs from the reality that most persons and every animal now find themselves in – the constrained habitat. As it further dawns on all, man and creature, that we are increasingly needing to fit into smaller spaces, from tiny homes to nature reserves and botanical parks, encounters with biosphere become like fragile dreams. I use this experience to question the emotional, visceral and artistic significance of this dense occupation of designated space.
It is the beginning we are missing. Missing badly that fresh moment, hydration from the breath of trees; creatures living alongside, soft sounds of the hidden others, the multisensory moment that we feel so alive in. Cultures and societies compete for living space and resources with the wild around them; undamaged open spaces now in memory or the imagination.
All creatures manage as best they can, and adapt if possible. Art becomes a place we can flow in our minds, in iterations of encounters with biosphere.
The strong attention and sense of sensual connection that has been our pact with physicality, the experience of being bodies on planet earth; animal, bird, insect, plant bodies – each having a different perceptual overlay on the physics of living due to different eye structures, olfactory abilities, or magnetic awareness (e.g. birds navigating via magnetic north sensitivity) – all this anchors us to a physical reality. 
I don't shy away from the ways we have brought human things into the dwelling places of other animals, rather gather bits of our debris along with the twigs dirt vegetation that bear on the daily experiences of the animal inhabitants. These become materials which are further dimensions of interaction. 
Stepping forth from preoccupation with humanness is our challenge, this is storied in my art in multiple encounters with otherness.

d truthsayer 8/2022