This year has been one in which we’ve been challenged to ask ourselves about our relationship to the world and our communities. First, we were confronted with a virus and a pandemic that meant we had to take extraordinary actions to help limit its spread. Then, there was the social upheaval resulting from the unjust murders of black citizens by our police. And finally, we experienced a huge amount of misinformation and anxiety relating to our electoral/political process. We’ve been challenged as a society in a way that none of us can fully comprehend. We are left with doubt, fear, anxiety, and exhaustion.
San Francisco’s landscape was altered by both the emptiness caused by the pandemic and the natural disaster of this season’s fires. This is occurring against the backdrop of relentless gentrification and re-development of the city. This became the basis of these meditations. Mandalas help us to focus and create a sacred contemplative space where we can observe our environment and understand where we find ourselves in it. This work seeks to create a space where one can explore both the interior self and the exterior world.
This series draws off of my previous work of nature and urban landscape photography. The images and sounds were captured around San Francisco during 2020 and then processed and combined to create these meditations.
This work was initially shown as part of the Gray Area Artist Showcase in December 2020 in New Art City.