SOUL/SOLE (2002)
Historically, people believed that the camera could steal the soul, that the exterior was somehow a reflection of, or conduit to, the interior, the unseen. It was thought that the image might reveal something of the original essence or presence of a human being. For this series of photographs I was initially inspired by a linguistic coincidence that creates a poetic window of shared meaning between the two words, sole and soul. The whorl of the footprints, like the lines on a palm, soon suggests, however, the hide skinned charts of shamans, alchemists and fortune tellers.
The fixed image, sum of all parts past, present and future, trace of a single instant, momentarily transforms, becomes a microcosmic map of our complex biological identity and a macrocosmic map of the universe. The surface of skin becomes the protective outer atmosphere of the planet and crisscrossed patterns of the sole transform into intricate synaptic channels where a mole becomes a black hole, a swirl becomes a universe and a minute scar reflects truth or guides providence. Like the shifting sands of the desert and the ever evolving solar system, these images suggest chaotic, astrological, biological patterns. These patterns in turn suggest patterns of behavior, speech, paths of action, changes in direction, changes in definition, relative notions of position and motion, lines of force and communication and paths of least or most resistance.
The sole becomes a mirror through which we step into an alternate universe. It allows us to contemplate the contraction and expansion of our existence, the possibility of creation and destruction inherent in any given moment.
Inspired by the philosophy of Wittgenstein and Bachelard, influenced by images from popular culture and various books on science, number and communication theory, electronics and computers, I combine and recombine images in search of an answer, illusive as Alice's White Rabbit, to questions about responsibility, choice, chance, fate and man's place in the chaotic and complex universe.