MARK, 2008

Untitled (laughing), 15 x 20", pigmented print

This series examines ‘good’ and ‘evil’. While the depiction of these traits is sometimes nuanced, the more common process of simplifying their meaning while juxtaposing them creates a false dichotomy. By avoiding a more complex understanding of individuals or phenomena, we are lulled into a false sense of security and of ‘knowing’.

The characters in Mark complicate this dichotomy, challenging our sense of security by suggesting characters that are at once good and evil. For example, one laughing character wears a laurel wreath, emblem of the hero, brave and altruistic. The character is also concealed behind a balaclava, symbolic of the criminal (or maybe just a skier). In another example, a vulture, perched on a column, may signify death, but its presence also implies renewal. By complicating good/evil archetypes, the coexisting questions of who wins, who has the power, who is good, and who is evil, can be explored.