Biography
BIOGRAPHY
I am a photo-based artist creating images that speak to the relationship between humans and the natural world. I focus on themes of climate, deforestation, and biodiversity loss while drawing upon connection to place, arising from a familial history as the first immigrant settlers on the remote island of Cortes, British Columbia, in the 1880s.
I maintain a varied practice of which intersections form the foundation – intersections of observer and participant, documentary photography and contemporary art, archivist and surrealist. Working within a restless medium, I utilize a wide range of technical processes; from the wet-plate tintypes that form the foundation of Life to the focus-stacking technique of Anthropocene, from large-format film to the latest digital tools, the projects draw from the history of the craft while remaining united by subject matter.
My photographs are exhibited internationally and are part of the permanent collections of the Chinese Museum of Photography, South Korea's Datz Museum of Art and Canada's Beaty Biodiversity Museum. They have been shortlisted for Photolucida's Critical Mass Book Award, appeared with National Geographic, and awarded First Place at the Prix de la Photographie Paris and the International Photography Awards.
In 2000 I began my career as a freelance assignment photographer, eventually working with clients such as the New York Times Magazine, Business Development Bank of Canada, Canadian Medical Association, Oprah Winfrey Network, People magazine and CBC Radio Canada. Simultaneously, I was exhibiting personal work in private and public galleries. I continued this hybrid path for 12 years and then, in 2013, focused fully on my artistic practice.
I live and make my work in the Pacific Northwest, moving between my home in Victoria and the island of Cortes where I was raised.