The initial inspiration and source material for each of the landscape spaces produced in the Threshold series are found portrait photographs from which the person or group of people have been removed by digital manipulation. The remaining empty space is then further articulated and embellished with imagery from photographs as well as digital scans of objects and drawings. The result is an amalgam, not only of combined pictures, but also of unresolvable spaces that call to question easy figure/ground relationships. I have chosen to incorporate aspects of picture genres such as the formal portrait picture and a kind of landscape that, more often than not, exists as a backdrop for something else. With their familiar decorative motifs and reference to the picturesque they attract and comfort. However the landscapes and gardens that I construct through digital combinations are quirky and I am not interested in an experience of landscape that provides uncritical pleasure. I wish my landscapes to be seductive in a traditional sense, but to incorporate subtle seams, loose ends and loopholes. For me the work is a text, a picture and a thought process all at once.
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