Wing Series | Large Format Digital Prints | 2016 - 2018

The Wing Series was created out of a ritual, my ritual, which embodied the desire to fly away, away from the everyday pain of a bitter divorce. I imagined poor Icarus and the vulnerability of his flight. I used not wax, but masking tape. I chose solely pennaceous feathers, the stiff feathers used for soaring, imagining I would be kept aloft like a bird in the air.  As this photography series embodied ritual and prayer, I imagined that I did not chose the feathers, but “others” did.

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This is the story of the feathers: All of the feathers were white, and either plucked by the hand of angels from the foremost tip of their wings and the sacred spot where the feathers tapered off into the ethereal flesh of the back, or by the tactile beak from the wings of sacred birds.  Most of the feathers were molted in the ecstatic release celebrating new beginnings and released with joyful intent to be utilized for me after my flighted journey.

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During the time spent making this series, I imagined the hot ARRI lights were the heat from the sun.  As I sat, in my mind’s eye, I soared, high above the clouds, imagining a future victory lap of triumph over adversary.  In reality, as I sat at my small table, my outstretched feathered hands  represented the acceptance of moving forward past the lessons gleamed through emotional pain.

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The set lighting for the photography was set up to solely emphasize my wings and obscure the edges of the picture frame in menacing darkness. Life is like that- the unknown is scary and out of the darkness comes the light.  The impulse of the flighted journey was captured in my mind: My children and I would not only survive, but thrive, as the Phoenix rising through the fire and ash.

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This is true, as I convey now, years later:  My children have walked into adulthood autonomous and strong.  And I am onto my continued journey as an ever-evolving woman, artist, writer and mother.