Living Light (2010-2012)

Rusting metal, rotting wood and the slight hint of grease and oil in the air: these elements tangibly define the mines and dredges of Alaska’s Tanana Valley. Forgotten, ignored and neglected, these relics of Alaska’s past have sat at idle, some for more than 60 years. An eerie silence and calm hangs over these places for the casual explorer – but if you remain, a subtle, latent pulse still exists. These places are teeming with a hidden lifeforce – one that represents the ebb and flow of the machinery, the deafening sounds of the stamp mills and dredges and the people who once called these places home.

Painting with light, I’ve done what I can to emulate this intangible connection with these spaces – to show the vibrancy and life that’s left latent in a place dully defined by the diffused light of a late afternoon winter sun.