Artist Statement

We humans hate and fear change, and yet there is nothing more inevitable. We can try to stop it from happening, we can refuse to accept it until it is here, we can deny it happened and try to carry on as usual, but we will fail. Change wins. It may be uncomfortable, disruptive, unwelcome, and at times frustrating. On the other hand, change can be beautiful. It might bring new possibilities, open doors that were previously closed, or be the beginning of unexpected adventures. The unfamiliarity might scare us, but then again something different could be exactly what we need. Either way, like it or not, impermanence is simply part of life. Nature makes this abundantly clear. We see evidence of it in the changing of the seasons and in the life cycles of plants and animals. The weather is perhaps the quickest reminder with its unpredictable character. Impermanence is made visible in the coming in and going out of the tide or the raising and lowering of water levels depending on the time of year and amount of snowfall the previous winter. It is clear in the thoroughly predictable change from night to day. These photographs capture some of these moments and the added threads emphasize both fragility and growth. Embroidery has traditionally been used to bind together and to beautify, and both are at play here. In some of the images, the threadwork is used to represent our feeble attempts to hold on and ward off change for a little bit longer. In others, it adds movement to a still picture, or symbolizes things falling apart. While there are no humans present, these pieces speak to the human condition and to our complicated relationship with change.