Impossible Diamonds

When I was young, I wanted nothing more than to fit in. Eager to please, I coloured within the lines. For my brother, conformity was for the birds. I wanted him to be normal like me; he wanted me to be normal like him. However, our differences dissolved in the natural world, a transcendent place where everyone can be themselves.

During this tumultuous time, I am overwhelmed by my desire to escape back into the imaginary world of my youth. Searching for what seemed like impossible joy, I rediscovered a box of my father's old scientific teaching props: prisms, mirrors, lasers, as well as old journals and postcards. Using these optical elements as a portal, I spent the second year of the pandemic trying to make something magical happen in my own backyard.

This project is a sensory trip into the natural world, offering mystery, magic, and healing. My process allows me to see places I know by heart through a new lens. Letting go of the notion of trying to please everybody, I use optical elements in conjunction with my traditional camera to create non-traditional photographs. In doing so, I question the camera's relationship to one’s objective reality by creating images that reveal the hidden places of my inner world. Impossible Diamonds challenges the notion of normalcy, both in a photographic image and in our strange times.