When my husband moved out of the house, I wandered the mostly empty rooms in confusion and sorrow. There was now a physical manifestation of the aloneness I felt inside. Instinctively, I tried to fill the empty spaces in my heart and home with my own body, refurnishing both.
My work initially continued my early path of macro photography of the natural world. I made abstractions out of parts of flower petals, spider webs and grass. I wanted the viewer to see the inherent perfection and beauty nature creates while we’re hurrying along with our daily lives. I took UCLA Extension courses in fine art photography with instructors such as JoAnn Callis and Peter Reiss. I learned so much from them about where photography started and where it was going. I became enamored with Garry Winogrand’s street photography, and soon I began prowling the streets of LA with camera in hand. I made portraits of homeless people, asylum patients, immigrants, and various punks and poseurs. (Only after I had engaged them in conversation first.) This work I never intended to be shown anywhere—I was just compelled to make it.