Ongoing > Autobiography, 2011 - present

I come from a family of collectors and I was taught at a very young age the importance of possessions. They define what we like to observe, what we perceive ourselves to be, what we once lost, and what we want to remember. Autobiography started in 2002 when I collected my lunch bags because I hoped to make a book from the worn paper. Years later, they became a chronological marker that defines my life.

There are three parts to the series: objects used to mark time (12 for 7 Years as an Adjunct Professor: 2000-2007), items that pinpoint a specific event centered around change or loss (5 Objects Photographed Before Thrown Away, We are Not that Different, He and I), and lists. Christian Boltanski’s inventories from the 1970s in addition to Sol Lewitt’s Autobiography 1980 are important influences.

I save until an event occurs that indicates I should stop. It could be as life changing as moving to a new part of the country or as minute as my mother buying me a blue insulated lunch bag. I monumentalize the mundane, elevating stained lunch bags and sagging swimsuits to a higher status. These inconsequential objects are one aspect of my identity, easily disposable yet somehow kept.

12 for 7 Years as an Adjunct Professor
Archival Pigment Prints
Each 45" x 30"
2012
Five Objects Photographed Before Thrown Away
Archival Pigment Prints
Each 10" x 15"
2011
The Collection (and its Return), 2012
Archival Pigment Print
30" x 20"
2012
Houston, Texas (1999 - 2002)
Every nail clipping
3.5" x 1.25" x 1.25"
2002
Portland, Oregon (2002-2007)
Every swimsuit in a plexi-glass box
16" x 11" x 3.5"
2012
Muncie, Indiana (2007 - 2016)
Every haircut
Each 9" x 4" x 4"
2016
24 and 25.5 Years
Archival Pigment Prints
Each 19" x 13"
2013
Boise, 1986 (2013), Tucson, 1997 (2013), and Muncie (2014)
Archival Pigment Prints
Each 19" x 13"
2014
We Are Not That Different, He and I
Archival Pigment Prints
Each 13" x 19"
2013
11 Years: 1991 - 2002 Photographed and Thrown Away
Archival Pigment Print
13" x 19"
2015
1045 Lists (1st June 2010 - 31 May 2013)
Archival Pigment Print
13" x 19"
2015
38 Years
Archival Pigment Print
20" x 30"
2016