shashasha

I like asking people about their lives. That is my first interest.

What my subject is feeling and thinking. How one thinks about the past and the future. I draw inspiration from the life stories people tell and fill the photos I take with those images.

When taking pictures, I have little or no interest in the superficial features of youth and beauty. Though admittedly those are components that have shaped that person, I seek the originality spawned from one's life experience. Thatwhich is homogeneous and idealized has no individuality. It's not until you get completely away from generalizations that one begins to show her thoughts and emotions. The inner person becomes visible only after their appearanceclad in common sense has been destroyed.

The photos with slits wrists and the like are graphic, but I want to capture the face more than the injury. Symptions of a disease are not peculiar to any single person, so I always am focussing on the energy I see in the subject's eyesrather than what she is doing.

I choose to photograph women because they look like an extension of everyday life. Male subjects tend to perfect their appearance because they have a 'better side' they like to show.. Women, on the other hand, are more flexible;they get in front of a camera when they want to look at oneself objectively, see oneself from a different angle or ascert oneself in some sort of way.

The title of this photo collection --It's time for me to go back ... to the moon-- plays off "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" as these women expose the imaginary landscape they harbor inside and flee the makings of this world in front ofthe camera.

Of all the emotions people have, I feel that "anger" manifests the will to live the most, so I want to draw out and capture a pointed look from subjects when shooting. I find "anger" to be the root of all emotions that temper life: a sense ofinferiority, sorrow, despair, etc. Within the anger that one feels towards oneself lies an anger towards pressure from the outside that comes in various forms of oppression such as "common sense," "family environments," "male-oriented society" and "one's generation." Anger is ascertion, so I want to capture a statement that can be seen beyond words.

People are a product of the energy they have, so I want to capture the soul behind the face and body. (from the postscript)