Nightscapes

The night sky is mysterious and alluring. Night is the prescribed time of rest and to be awake in the night is to bend the rules of society. The night sky is thick with seduction and stories. Growing up in the Midwest my most vivid, loving, destructive, obstinate, memorable and important moments occurred against the backdrop of the night sky. I remember learning the scientific explanations of the stars while at the same time being told the Greek myths the constellations were derived from. Myth and any knowledge I have held onto about the night sky will always be intertwined.

What I enjoy most about a photograph is when, much like a memory, it is untrustworthy, inaccurate and strays from its origins. I am drawn to a photograph’s facility to mislead and allow the viewer’s own associations to enter the picture. The Nightscapes series started off as an intuitive play of contradictions and is a part of a larger ongoing project of ephemeral constructions. Using the drug store candies of my childhood as materials I have created sculptures/paintings with Smarties, Nerds, Pixie Stixs, generic wintergreen and buttermint candies to make these celestial night sky images.