In this series of photomontages and mixed media works, I explore my intellectual and emotional responses about the most pressing issues of our current time. I am concerned about the suffering caused by war and warmongering, political decision making based primarily on fear, the looming threat of global warming and the erosion of the ideals of democracy upon which the United States was founded. I draw inspiration from multiple sources including climate change science, news photographs, current events, surrealist paintings and political cartoons. I staged and photographed many parts of the images in the studio and combined these images with photographs that I took elsewhere. Some of the artworks in this series incorporate audio and/or installation in their presentation. I intend to evoke emotional responses from the viewer that will encourage them to become more aware and actively engaged in any of these important contemporary issues. I hope to invigorate discussions about the issues addressed in my artworks among a wide variety of people.

I am seeking opportunities to display some of the artworks from this series as public art in highly trafficked spaces, such as projected on buildings, on billboards and/or on public transit. This strategy of taking the works outside the context of a gallery or museum and into public spaces is important for work that addresses contemporary issues because it takes art to the masses rather than waiting for the masses to come view the art. Often attendees to art museums and galleries tend to fit into narrowly defined race and class groups, who in general are likely to already share the concerns expressed in my artworks. The outcome I intend to achieve is to invigorate discussions about the issues addressed in my artworks among a wide variety of people by showing the art in public places.