I began creating my version of “Visual Poetry” while I was going through a personal crisis. I turned to photography and writing as a means of healing, and as the ultimate expression of my emotions.

For my visual poetry series I created a short version of abstract titles to accompany each photograph. The totality may be read in various ways, either from first to last consecutively, two lines at a time or three lines at a time.In much the same way that poems may be deconstructed – also the way relationships are often deconstructed — the series may be perceived in such a way that viewers see parts of themselves in reflection. It is an abstract literary and visual body of work, yet it can also make sense to the reader in the way surrealism might present itself to an open minded individual.

The visual aspect of the project (photographs) is a perceptual tool I employ to develop the abstract gaze. I want viewers to literally exist and move within the images as if they were moving through someone's body — the body of a lover, I suppose. I am interested in exploring the body in various ways, and the effects art can create in relationship to the body. The self-portraits in this series are the beginning of this exploration.

Literary poetry and visual poetry are inseparable to me. Their fusion helps me make sense of life. The voice I am attempting to create in my art is one that struggles, and most importantly, one that is alive and passionate. This voice often responds to outside influences, which can, and often does, take the form of another person. But this is also a voice that resists or even transcends outside forces, outside voices. This preoccupation in my work directly relates to my own romantic experiences and the ways in which they have shaped my life and my artistic expression. But the work in this series resonates in ever-widening circles outward, seeking to encompass all who are engaged in a similar emotional journey.

The connection between poetry and visual art does not stop at subject matter. Both have their own physicality, their own existence. For me, there is always a parallel between the literary and the visual, between the themes in my poetry and the experience of viewing a photograph.