The question of where and how one is positioned in society and history is complicated; it can and must be answered in different ways. I explore questions of identity by examining my relationships to various social groups, to various strains of historical narrative, and to the different ways of knowing that I use. Wrestling with this problem of identity definition is the primary concern in all of my artwork.

In a world arranged unevenly according to the different kinds of power available to individuals, groups, and institutions, understanding and analyzing the positions that one occupies requires creative strategies. My current work is an investigation into one such possible avenue.

I use two marginal processes in tandem to explore the connections between two different kinds of visual and textual information that hold important places in my family history. The processes are kallitype printing (a Victorian photographic technique never widely used) and letterpress printing with large wood type (an obsolete commercial process). The visual and textual information belong to either the experience of the restaurant business or the discourse of medical genetics--specifically, of polydactyly, an inherited physical trait. My aim is to utilize these two processes in an unconventional way, which will make apparent my appropriation of these largely abandoned printing techniques. Put in the service of an artist's project of self-understanding of a marginalized experience, the artwork hopefully becomes a statement of authorship and therefore power, as well as a point of convergence for the cultural and biological streams of evolution that are a part of every human experience.