My site-specific series is an extension of my urban photography, combining photographic images with objects recovered from the site in mixed media collages. I enjoy recycling and transforming common found objects through a nuanced layering of mediums, colors and textures. Among the sites are condemned buildings slated for the wrecking ball, decaying facades, run-down factories, and graffiti-strewn walls. While I have created pieces from other locales, Chicago has yielded a rich and endless array of urban decay and site relics. In more global terms, this work is about excavating/recycling an ephemeral landscape and preserving it – 90 percent of the sites I have documented disappeared within weeks or months. In some cases, the retrieval of objects carries some risk because of the location, condition of the site, or the fact that the area has been cordoned off and I photograph and pick up objects covertly. I have been followed or watched, and even asked to vacate the premises – this is all part of the experience that I take back with me to the studio when creating these mixed media collages.
