Erase, Shift, Form… Emerge? | 2023
Erase, Shift, Form… Emerge? Artist Statement
This series of photo montages loosely draws inspiration from the life story of Hannah Freeman, said by many to be the “last Lenape,” who lived in the Chester County, Pennsylvania region in the late 18th century.
Generally in a more all-encompassing way, this work seeks to gain some insight into how places change when new forces come into play, whether human-centered, natural, or both. In these series of landscapes that I have visited often during my Philadelphia tenure, memory, memorialization, monumentality, honoring are themes that hold my attention. Ecosystems that were heavily modified and erased, including many Lenni-Lenape, have also been at the forefront of these thought experiences as I’ve walked over and through this terrain.
I draw parallels to the landscapes of the Piedmont today and I imagine what its characteristics were centuries ago. I use digital modification: overlaps, fading in/out and incongruous juxtapositions to think about one – humans and non-humans alike- would have felt having their world turned on edge. Additionally, I hope in these image-making experiments, that there might be new ways to see these places, with an eye toward an expansive and inclusive futurism, cultural stewarding and repair of the land.
This short film builds on this theme.