TRAVELER'S TOPOGRAPHY I, II original paper collage

Several years ago, I travelled to dozens of small towns through out the west — rugged mountain towns, dusty prairie towns, towns with double digit populations. In these small villages, I collected discarded papers that I would find blowing around the street, then trimmed, stacked and stapled these fragments into small square booklets. Once I'd compiled several thousand booklets, it was time to send these little assemblages on the next leg of their journey. I ventured out again, placing each stack in the desert, in the mountains, in dry creek beds. And there I left them for years. Finally, I returned and collected those booklets I could find. Many were lost, destroyed, eaten by mice and insects, carried off by coyotes, blown away by the wind. But of those that were left, I was able to amass a collection of beautiful wind-worn, sand blasted papers that showed an organic edge. These pieces serves as a commentary on the intersection of man and nature, whereby man creates an object and nature, when left to her devices, carefully wears away at this object and softens it with her organic touch.