This mini series was created in 2007 and displayed in SUNY Potsdam's Senior Honors Art Show in Spring 2008.

Of all types of subject matter, I find portraits and studies of people the most interesting. Portraits are often praised for their ability to capture one’s state of mind.

In my series of scratched images, I tried to convey the opposite: an ambiguity of emotion.  Someone’s external emotions are often very removed from their private feelings, for they may unintentionally or purposely conceal them.  I scratched images of different faces, trying to blur their expressions and represent the barrier between the true internal self and controlled external persona. I also used sepia toning; this technique creates an impression of antiquity or age; the detachment one feels looking at an older photograph mirrors the detachment between simply seeing someone’s face and actually getting a true glimpse into his or her thoughts.

The series is entitled Visnomy: an archaic term for “physiognomy,” the study of facial features and expressions and how they relate to personality.  While the field has little scientific basis, it is a concept that has been practiced for centuries in many different cultures. Because physiognomy is considered largely unscientific and unreliable, the title highlights the difficulties in learning one’s true emotions simply from their outward appearance.In the future, I would like to further explore facets of human thought and emotion in my search for new and different ways to express humanity’s intricacies.  I would like to continue using multiple techniques, both in shooting and in the darkroom, to manipulate and alter images and heighten their emotional impact.