Conversari - Artist Statement 

‘What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say’   Ralph Waldo Emerson

Conversari is one known root of the word ‘conversation’.  It can also mean ‘to keep company with’ or ‘to behave/act’ or ‘to conduct oneself’. I am interested in how listeners and speakers must act cooperatively and mutually accept one another to be understood in a particular way.  The success of social interactions can be dependent upon adherence to social conventions such as conversing with tact, approbation and generosity.  Successful cooperative communication can also be attributed to body language.  Much of what is understood in conversation is read through the body, not the words. 

In Conversari, I am exploring how different emotions and messages can be displayed through facial expression, the tilt of the head, the furrow of the brow or the position of the shoulders, I am considering conversational elements and the often-curious moments in human relations. I frequently work with discarded portraits from thrift stores, vintage shops and old family albums. By using anonymous images, I am able to distance myself from the subject. This enables me to present a portrait that is objective and will, hopefully, encourage the viewer to cultivate their own personal narrative.