You recently moved to Providence to a studio in AS220's Mercantile Block. What led you to Providence and AS220?
I was really interested in finding a community that was supportive of the arts. I had the opportunity to meet some of the staff of AS220 and fell in love with the organization. I've always felt strongly about community-based organizations and I felt inspired by AS220 to follow my dreams on becoming an expressive artist. I have been very impressed with the AS220 staff and community for devoting themselves to an organization that is in support of the larger community as a whole, while not forgetting the ever-special refuge for the artist. I feel very thankful to have been welcomed into this community and hope that I can contribute not only as an artist, but also as a person who really wants to make a difference in this world one photograph or moment at a time.
You have several bodies of work including a series entitled, Dialog with the Homeless shot with a 4x5 camera this past winter in San Francisco. Some of the photographs from the series seem quite intimate and I believe you must have established some amount of trust between yourself and the individuals you were documenting. How did you create that bond between yourself and individuals to create such intimate portraits? What was the origin of this body of work? Did you set out to document the homeless or did the project develop organically from conversations and chance encounters? Did you move to San Francisco that winter expressly to document the homeless?
The homeless project was a challenge. I knew that I was drawn to the homeless in San Francisco from living there in the late 90's. I have always felt a certain amount of isolation as a person, so the main focus of my project was to try to communicate the isolation that these people may feel.... I feel that I have been spiritually homeless for years, so this project was a way to get closer to expressing an aspect of the human condition and perhaps isolation, not only as a person, but also as an artist.
As part of my graduate program, I decided to take advantage of my opportunity as a student to relocate to work under the mentorship of Reagan Louie, who as you may know is a well known documentary fine art photographer. It took me a few months to narrow the focus of my project. I started volunteering in shelters and was searching for a way to get closer to the people that I felt a connection to. My project was really about observing. For months I would go out and just talk with them, sharing a cup of coffee or a cigarette before I even picked up my camera. I tried shooting some 35mm and had thoughts of just focusing on one or two from the street community, but knew that I wanted to get closer, not only photographically but also personally. The 4x5 camera forces me to slow down as a photographer, learning these skills in an intuitive way allows me to focus on the person that is in front of the lens...
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Your work is primarily portraiture. What about the art of photographing individuals moves you? What are you trying to find in people's faces? Does it vary from individual to individual, or from project to project? For instance, in the Dialog with the Homeless series were you looking to capture something specific that you would not expect to find in your more recent portraits? Perhaps this is a question about expectations. What do you expect from portraiture that you don't expect from street or landscape photography? Do you "see" differently depending on what style of photography you pursue?
My photography is really project based. I learned early on to develop projects that had a cohesive voice. My focus....(is having) a conversation about the human condition as Humanality, a term that I created, which for me expresses the human condition on a personal level - the personality of being human. My photography is an attempt to capture the intuitive relationship that we hold as a universal experience. I want to create images that capture a feeling that we may all share as a whole.
I love the idea of challenging the viewer. I've always insisted that my photographs speak for themselves, perhaps revealing the bias that the viewer may have toward a subject matter, such as with the social documentary project, Dialog with the Homeless, or with my gun project. The idea is to profile a group of people and talk about the commonality that ties us all together in one consciousness, while using the material world as a shield that the viewer must get past in order to see the real essence of the photograph. I am also inspired by the landscape and the visionary illusion that I have experienced from the sand dunes of the Cape in the fog. When I spend time in the dunes, I feel a magical presence that for me transcends an earthly presence, which I hope is not only relevant in my portraits but also in the visual silence in all of my photographs.
You currently have an exhibition in Provincetown of your most recent body of work that involves the use of liquid emulsion to create one of kind photographic images (an example of which is also on display at the current AS220 group show HYDRA at the Hera Gallery in Wakefield, RI). The process seems to combine the expressiveness of the paint stroke with traditional B&W film. Can you explain how this process works and the background of your process? What is it about this process that attracts you? Has using it changed how you take a photograph or how you see your subjects?
When I started graduate school I wanted to focus on the traditional aspects of B&W photography in hopes of narrowing my focus as a photographer and strengthening my vision and ability to communicate as an artist. The irony of my most recent body of work is that I am bridging the craft of traditional photography with the alternative process of liquid emulsion, which allows a certain amount of personal expressiveness that in my hopes could never be duplicated by the digital age. I have always been fond of many great photographers, such as (Robert) Mapplethorpe and (Henri) Cartier-Bresson, but after further investigation found that they never did their own printing. I started house painting at an early age and developed a strong sense of painting and the use of a brush. By using the process of liquid emulsion, I am employing a completely physical experience in my print-making. I listen to the sounds of the emulsion as I coat the paper in the darkroom under the red lights and am able to move my body freely across the image as I develop it. For me, the beauty comes from exposing a proper photographic image in the camera and then allowing the magic of the alternative process to establish an image that cannot be duplicated or recreated simply because of the nature of the liquid flowing over the image.
I always start... these images by capturing a photograph that has a sound well-exposed negative and (do this) in an intuitive reality that I share with the sitter. I feel that the spontaneity of the alternative process is really a gift that the process presents... and should not be an excuse for bad photography. For me it is the same with digital photography. I feel that you must understand your craft before you can use it to your advantage and not the other way around. The alternative process is a blessing to me and holds.. a certain sacredness; knowing so allows me.. to communicate that which is most dear in the photographic image.
See Dana's work in person at the AS220 Group Show at Hera Gallery, 327 Main St, Wakefield, RI, On View Until December 24th