1. Tell us about your image: Issues of privacy and space occupy us more than ever, and much of the rhetoric associated with these topics focuses on the dangers and perils of physical and even virtual contact. Little is said about the fundamental need for touch, for intimacy, for the possibilities of wordless communication, even between strangers.
I wanted to further explore these ideas by transgressing what is typically acceptable by using my hand to physically touch another person’s face, the focus of their identity to the world at large. The concealment of the mouth is unavoidable in touching the woman's face directly, but it may also be seen as silencing, protective, or soothing. The mouth is concealed—but her eyes say so much.
2. What type of Energy were you trying to express or capture in this photograph?
I wanted to push past my own limitations to explore the energy of encounters between strangers.In some cases, I realize that what I believed about these strangers was false, and that people are often accepting and willing to share. This has been in turn a course of self discovery wherein I have learned that my motivation to create a lasting photograph—a virtual and timeless representation—is yet linked to my intimate attraction to people in my presence, even for a brief moment.
3. Why Photography? What about it inspires and excites you?
Photography affords me the opportunity to freeze the moment. A single frame can communicate the gestures, energy, and wordless communication between two people. Photography is a tool I often utilize to translate energy into a two dimensional form.
4. Our upcoming issue is centered around the theme of 'Fantasy'. What is your fantasy, right now?
My fantasy is to find the woman in this photograph. I hope to find her again, she changed my life.
