● Artistic Statement

“(I am)…born among the simple with a taste for self-revelation. The man or woman thus endowed must speak, will speak, though there are only the grasses in the field to hear and none but the wind to carry the tale.” -Mary Antin (1881 – 1941)

I found this quote by Mary Antin in my twenties. She helped me to understand and accept my own voyages of self-discovery. Self-portraits became a tool within which I could view and integrate the sorrows and challenges of my life which included the struggle and commitment to my seriously physically disabled brother, my corporate sponsored health injuries, my great concern for the health of our planet, my experiences as a performer, researcher and teacher as well as the suffering I see in the world around me. These explorations represented a great desire to dive through the layers of the human psyche from masque to molten core. The self-portrait work I created in the 80’s (polaroid) occurred while Dave Heath was photographing me. The two bodies of work were merged into a single show in which it is almost impossible to determine who had taken which images.

I began by photographing my disabled brother as a young child. I used my camera to show the world his spirit and his humanity when most saw only his disability. I have begun a series of multi-media paintings in order to re-examine my relationship to him. I struggle in life to find ‘compassionate heart’.

In my twenties I used my camera to document the beauty of the land such as the Texas gulf coast, then the domain of wild ponies, now dominated by condominiums. It is a constant quest for me to find and see and nurture beauty. From a modern landscape of cars, roads, walled developments, malls, big box stores, parking lots that hurt my eyes and my heart I seek and still photograph beauty. I long for humanity to work with Mother Nature not against our lovely blue green planet.

In the future I plan to revisit my early photography and discover common themes between my earlier and my current work.

I strive to show how wrong is violent conflict. As a drama and movement artist I have researched and presented hundreds of workshops with an anti-war theme. I feel a direct and poignant line to the experience and horror of WW1 through my childhood relationship to my grandfather who suffered through many of that war’s most horrific battles. Since WW1 there has been an unrelenting increase in the death and maiming of civilians in war. There is an undisputed correlation between militarism and environmental degradation.

The magnificence of the poppy has come to symbolize the unholy ugliness of war. I have specialized in photographing the beauty, variety and magnificence of this flower. I use my images of the poppy with an anti-war theme.

Mother Nature at the tipping point. Our choice garden or devastation. Through word, image, movement and concept I continue an artistic exploration of nature and the elemental forces as well as hope for peace. With older beliefs in mind I seek new earth saving visions.

ARTISTIC INFLUENCES AND INSPIRATIONS include:

Pre-Raphael Movement
William Morris
Edward Burne-Jones
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
John William Waterhouse
William Holman Hunt
The Unicorn Tapestries
Georgia O’Keeffe
Frida Kahlo
Joseph Campbell
Olive Schreiner
Rabindranath Tagore

Richard Stodart