Recent Collages: Mis Huellas Early Collages
Assemblages Sculptures
The W A T C H E R S Credo & Quietus Beauty in the Beast Suburban Carnage Curious Instants 084 Hand/Eye Los Santigüeros Fallen Giants 13 Moving Spectacles The Magic Bench Unsightly Behaviors The Artful Adventures of Mango and Blue
New Books My Collages: The Redbook Lorem Ipsum Sailing Over A Cardboard Sky Quipu My Hidden Mother Three Blind Rats Las Tapadas
Swedish Faves The THES Radical Gems

13


The human face has infinite fascination for me. Although in life we observe a face, with its fugitive identity, momentarily, we are allowed through the photograph to scrutinize expression and gesture in a way normal human interaction does not allow.

This series is titled 13, as I photographed 13-year olds whom I taught. It is a series I worked on for five years. I only photographed my students during the school day when we both had a moment free to relate to each other in the environment we shared.

“Why thirteen?” you may ask. Perhaps it is because thirteen was a magical time in my life. I was so excited to be a new teenager, an age group with cult-like status. I was happy to be at the top of the middle school heap. Everything seemed possible.

For over thirty years I have taught photography to students who are thirteen to eighteen years old. Each year I age; the faces of those before me remain young. I am amazed at the striking and radical change between 8th grade and freshman year. Each year I observe the changes that happen with their bodies, attitudes, and abilities. The freshness, openness, and translucency of my young students’ faces soon change to something else.I do not know whether I am more photographer than teacher or more teacher than photographer. The line has blurred very comfortably in this work.

 

These images are “tintypes,” printed digitally onto metal, 17” X 17” image size and framed to 24” X 24.”