While studying at the University of Colorado Denver I was introduced to the world of Surrealism. I became inspired by the movement of the 1920s and their ideas of “pure psychic automatism”. Just letting the artwork flow out of their minds onto canvases or through their lenses and into the darkroom.
This body of work is my attempt to follow this idea first developed by the great Andre Breton. My past work was always created to convey a meaning with each animal used in the image, but this work is to tell a story.
Each image just started with an idea, then let my imagination go in PhotoShop, adding more elements as the image progressed. Some parts of the images may refer to something about the animals, but for the most part this work is just trying different scenes with different landscapes, surrealist references, props and animals. I want the viewer to create their own narratives and spark their own imaginations. As divers, we all have different experiences under the waves, so these images should construct a different narrative for everyone.
I am creating the dreams and thoughts I have using the camera and combining my love of diving and surrealism into this new body of work: These Dreams of Mine.