Breathe Normally is about time and memory and how the everyday living of a life can change your future.  I am interested in the relationship between one's anticipated life and experience of a life lived.
     These images, self portraits, usually shown in movement; capture the passage of time within a still image.  My use of long exposures and new text to respond to the verses in a found autograph book compresses time.  Normally, photographs capture fragments of time and the world, both isolated and set aside from the flow of time. Here, past, present and future are all represented; the past with the verses, the present with the photographs and the future with the text presented on the wall during the exhibition.
     I have chosen myself as the model for control and flexibility.  The figures in the images are blurry; the viewer cannot always make out who the person is, allowing the figure in the image to stand in for almost anyone.  This permits the viewer to create a story for the characters in the images, and to identify with the situation.
     Breathe Normally builds on my previous project, The Inscription, in its call and response between a found piece of personal writing and my own.  This new project is inspired by an autograph book from 1937 found in an antique store.  The verses in the book wish the owner best of luck in her future career and love life.  That was 75 years ago.  I wonder what happened to the owner; did she stay in touch with these friends? What would happen if she met them many years later?

Breathe Normally was exhibited at ViewPoint Gallery in Halifax, Nova Scotia during the month of November 2012.