Guantánamo Basement
The government refuses to release interrogation photographs. So I make my own.
We call it hazing, domestic violence, child abuse, prison violence, TV drama. The photographs from Abu Ghraib have the unpleasant pull of of pornography. We are complicit; others break bodies, others write the stories, but torture is us.
These self-portraits bring interrogation home. They bear witness – but unreliably. They are embellished records of exhibitionist spectacles I stage and photograph alone, underneath my house in our collective basement. I play victim, perpetrator, and witness – the Other is me.
As photographs, the pieces show and hide, suggest but do not explain intention and emotion. As objects, they include props and materials related to the action. As ideas, they confuse image with actual, and play on words. To 'frame' can mean to provide support, to give tendentious context for a point of view, or to bear false witness. 'A hanging' may decorate a wall or end a life. 'Inverted Narcissus' manipulates the viewer; approaching, it is natural to crouch to see the reflected image – and discover oneself mimicking the position of the photographed figure.
The prints are made using a variety of techniques, but their integrity is always violated. Mirrors are present in each piece. They reflect the camera, the performance, or the photograph. And sometimes you.
2008 - 2010