Shara Hannah Finerman Shadowspeaker

Artist Statement:

My work explores preservation, perspective and memory within everyday experiences.  By carefully tuning in to a particular moment, I am studying the ephemeral qualities of people and places.  Recurring imagery in my work includes the body, written text, antennae and telephone poles and wires.  I come in to the studio with a variety of impressions and images; from an interaction with a stranger, a story I heard, a dream I had, a glance out the window or a scene from a movie.  I distill these moments down to their essential symbols. In some instances, I am rewriting/reassigning the details to form a new story. I enjoy making order out of a mess of details and toying with the dynamic between stability and fragility.

My creative process often starts with found photographs or objects that already embody a history.  From these items, I extract and isolate the most interesting or curious components and reconstruct them in pencil, ink, watercolor, oil, acrylic, photography, mixed media collage, yarn and thread.  Like an archeologist or historian, I am carefully gathering up unique and shared qualities to construct a new story, a snapshot of time.  In an attempt to simplify and get closer to the nature of the subject the resulting work, paradoxically, reveals an even more complex picture than before.