Hope Trilogy

My photography investigates the obvious picture – interpreting the subject rather than re-cording it in its literal detail. This process transforms what we see into something that con-veys a feeling – the warm morning light in a room, the tranquility of a happy home, the ex-citement of a storm, the joy of freedom.

In 2015 I was invited to participate in an art exhibition to spotlight the issue of wrongful incarceration in support of the Midwest Innocence Project. During the process, we were in-troduced to and were able to get to know recent exonerees. The Hope Trilogy is my re-sponse to my first encounter with exoneree Dennis Fritz. I was taken by his refusal to carry resentment for the people who wrongfully accused and incarcerated him for 12 years. When I asked him how he was able to do this, he responded with the word, “Poof!” - he just let go and gave it (the judgement, his fate) up to God. “Poof!” immediately brought to mind the image of a cloud and the ever-changing sky – the only view from a prison cell or yard. I imagined these clouds to be like hope floating by – as elusive, intangible and fragile as our livelihood, existence and freedom.