Artist Statement
The Devil’s Pool photographs explore an un-sanctioned swimming hole in Philadelphia’s Wissahickon Park and emphasize the value of access to green spaces within an urban setting. The project investigates how people relate to their environment and affirms a human need or impulse to commune with the natural world. The work pictures diversity, celebrating the human body interacting with nature, and looks at relationships among people, their bodies, and the environments that they inhabit. It recognizes a tradition of bathing throughout art history and creates a pictorial space where the body can be openly represented and honored. This work considers the reflexivity in viewing imagery of people fully taken by their physical and psychological surroundings.
The work stems from my love for the Wissahickon and the respite that it provides. People from all over are drawn to this urban swimming hole as a place to play and revel in physicality and nature. The images depict moments of coherence among our bodies and the world around us.
