Floaters

Floaters (often pink or red in color), which people get in their vision when they are tired or dizzy, can inhibit them from seeing what is in front of them clearly. For that reason, they have become metaphors for my personal experiences with the landscape. When I am in red rock country for example, I sit enamored with the beauty in front of me. Then it happens… somewhere in the back of my mind, a newspaper article or Facebook post surfaces that reveals the oil and gas drilling operation being proposed for that very area. The thought taints my experience with the desert view. I can’t see it without it being obscured by politics, ecologic crisis, and cultural complacency.

These ideas are also reflected in the viewfinder key chains that are part of this series. The interior images are always black and white pictures of idyllic landscapes. However, etched into the viewfinder lenses are words (in English or Japanese) that summarize the forces that are affecting the landscapes pictured. Such words might be, Changing, Melting, Leaving, or Warming. When the viewer is held up to the eye, it is impossible to see the image inside clearly because the word etched onto the lens floats in front of it, obscuring the view. The viewfinders are exhibited in galleries or out in the landscape, and are for the taking – as souvenirs of what is being lost.