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Revelation

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Often, when I am in nature, I feel that I am in the presence of a spirit. For millennia, the spiritual traditions of the world have developed a highly creative vocabulary for these earth energies; Hindu devas, Shinto kami, Greek nymphs, Celtic fairies, African yawahoos, Egyptian afrites, Iroquois orendas, and the list goes on and on and on. These explorations are an essential aspect of human nature. This soulful approach to life reminds us that we too are spiritual as well as material beings.

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The images in my series Revelation remind me, and many others, of the figures, masks, and paintings found within the world’s sacred traditions. Throughout human history, including in the western psychological tradition, the richly associative power of symmetry has been used as a tool for transforming perception, for making visible the invisible, and for uncovering what remains hidden to the conscious mind.

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When I first saw these kinds of images appear in my work, I was struck by how much they reminded me of the spirit of the place they were drawn from. As much of my work is concerned with universally shared archetypal qualities, it is also concerned with the unique character of specific places. One eye focuses on the world’s soul (the animus mundi) while the other focuses on the spirit of a place (the genius loci). Upon further exploration, I’ve come to believe that the two are not separate, merely different aspects of one another.

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My work is not a simple document of my encounters with the spirit(s) of nature; it is a collaboration with it. An important aspect of this work is bringing into focus not just what is seen with the naked eye but what is experienced by the whole being – body, mind, and emotion. The process of creating these images is like dreaming while I’m awake. Some of these visions were discovered in dreams, some in waking reveries, some in conscious visualizations, and some were discovered directly through the process of making images. Whether the images arise in the moment or long after the moment has passed, the essential experience is extended, like a seed that once planted germinates, blooms, and bears fruit. Regardless of where I’m creating – on site, in transit, or in studio –  the places that have touched me deeply are always within me.

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When I am in nature, I feel that I am not only in the presence of a spirit(s) but that I also come in deeper contact with my own spirit(s). Have you ever felt that way? I’ve come to understand that the two are not as separate as we are often led to believe. We are indeed a part of nature and nature is a part of us.

Perhaps the most important aspect of my images is the deepening of a felt connection with nature, both for myself and for others. My photographs are more than windows onto the world outside us, they are also mirrors in which we can better see the world inside us.