i visited the chicago aquarium to get a sense of what it feels like to be underwater.   



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the belugas caught my attention immediately. they’re cute, playful, and have a calm, almost spiritual presence.

photography usually captures the world through human eyes but I wanted to think about how other beings see things. for example, belugas see everything in shades of gray and have poorer eyesight than humans though they have a much well-developed sense of hearing.

i created transparent prints on the wrong side of the photographic paper, allowing the ink to run, and blur and to record imperfections TO try to approximate how belugas might see the world —unclear and shadowy

belugas are just one example of species that have different sensory apprehensions than human beings. most creatures experience the world in ways we don’t understand. Humans depend heavily on sight whereas other animals might not even have eyes but still perceive their surroundings in ways that enable them to thrive.


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even among humans, everyone has their own unique perspective that others might not see—thoughts, feelings, and experiences that go unnoticed.


Humans have individualized perspectives that are often not shared by others.  can photographs bring thoughts, feelings or experiences to others that otherwise are not shared?

In my work, I make changes to my photographs so as to express emotions and perspectives

for instance, jellyfish are transparent; I make my images of them opaque and blurry to reference things I can’t share or people I can’t understand. and for bulugas-when I first saw them, their large bodies felt overwhelming, but after a while, they made me feel secure, like watching children play together.

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