Artist Statement
‘Senior Dogs Across America’
Eight years ago, I began traveling the United States to photograph senior dogs. Like the diverse human pageant that Robert Frank captured in his book, The Americans, back in the 1950’s, I found dogs inhabiting all manner of American life -- and with many years inscribed in their beings.
My interest in the world of the senior dog began as my own two dogs began to approach the end of their days. This was at a time when I had lived enough years to start imagining my own mortality. I entered a world of grace where bodies that had once expressed their vibrancy were now on a more fragile path.
I saw how the dog does it; how, without the human’s painful ability to project ahead and fear the inevitable, the dog simply wakes to each day as a new step in the journey. Though their steps might be more stiff and arduous, these dogs still moved through each day as themselves -- themselves of that day and all the days before.
As mortality was weaving its way through this project, so was another American thread. The media were consumed with reports about our country’s sharp political fractures. It was all about the Red/Blue conflicts and the strident voices leading the charge. Yet, what I witnessed in my travels was something quite different. It was people caring for the most vulnerable dogs. Whether the senior dog was part of a family where the dog/person devotion knew no bounds or one of the elders being tended at an animal sanctuary, I saw something much deeper than our divisions, something important about where we live and the best way to die.
Listening to the current fevered debate over Social Security and Medicare, I am left with a fearful pit in my stomach when I imagine a country that might abandon the fundamental promise to care for those who have gone the distance and need at least a minimum of support to help them ease out of life. Politics of the moment may dictate such a course, but, in our true American hearts, we are better than that. I have seen it all along my journey as I photographed senior dogs surrounded by so much love, devotion and respect for life lived long and well.
Island Hopping
Manhattan – I am born.
Long Island – Perhaps a suburban dream. Actually, perhaps not. It is where I took my first photo.
St.Thomas, Virgin Islands - A third grader discovers a new place. So few people. So untouched. So safe. Lots of quiet walks. Lots of time to see. Dad spends his passion time in a small closet making beautiful black and white prints. I see them washing in my tub. Mom travels to N.Y. and brings home hot pants for me to wear with laced up ‘greek’ sandals. I wear them unabashedly. My room has many posters. “What if they gave a war and nobody came” is one of them.
Off island for college – Rural upstate New York with my camera at hand. A semester in Spain begins a life long documentary project.
Manhattan – Back again. I am a Fashion Photographer. Magazines ( New York and Paris), Collections, Department Store Ads in The New York Times. So many people to see with my portfolio.. Everyone still has time. All the while AIDS permeates everything - first as something unknown and then…….
I find my muse Lisa in Paris. I find my muse Lulu in New York. Also, Maxie.
I receive an MA from New York University.
Mercer Island - Fashion + Documentary + Dogs + A New island Perspective. Starbucks welcomes me. Microsoft welcomes me. Seattle Children’s Hospital welcomes me. Assignments take me all over the world. My book is published. A Barnes and Noble bestseller…. for a time. More new projects are begun. Awards are won. Senior dogs take me all across America. So does ‘Escape Into America’. Digital and Multimedia begin a brand new language.
Time speeds up exponentially.
My island HOMES today - Mercer Island and Manhattan. My ‘decisive moments’ are in both locations.
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