Skintight

'Skintight' 10 pigment prints on fine art paper featuring unrelenting close-ups of a post-op face lift procedure. Two schools of thought about cosmetic surgery prevail in what is often referred to as our youth obsessed culture. There are those who reject any surgical intervention on the grounds that they have earned the wrinkles and the expressions that they wear. Others subject themselves to long and difficult surgeries in order to turn back the clock to the extent that the wear and tear of the years will yield to the skill of the surgeon. In my case, I decided that rather than enter into a celebration of the lines and gravitational pull staring back at me in the mirror, I would commend my personal history largely to memory; to my interior life rather than wearing the stress and strain of the years in a now familiar refrain,"I earned this face." In the 21st century, life expectancy for those of us who live in industrialized countries continues to increase and more of us are electing to shape the topography of the aging process rather than fully surrender to the ravages of time. By inviting the viewer to witness the tissue trauma, surgical markings, severe bruising and oozing suture lines, I draw back the curtain on the taboo of cosmetic surgery. 'Skintight' is a body of work that asks all of us to consider how we truly feel in our own skin.