DETAIL IMAGES FROM “Esther (1)”:

“Esther (1)” (48” x 34.5”):

description:

I remember that I was sweeping the sanctuary of the church alone and feeling a little mad about it (if I’m being honest) when I got a text from a friend who rarely contacts me. She told me that she had a dream that I took a trip to Florida and got engaged to a man named Will. I literally left the sanctuary right then and irresponsibly and spontaneously bought a ticket to Tampa. I booked a few airbnbs within a few hours driving distance, contacted an old friend in the area, and otherwise, I didn’t have any plans.

The night before I was leaving a semi with ‘Lake Wales, FL’ written on the side of it swerved into my lane on the highway and almost hit me. For some reason, I took special notice of the place and I felt like I was supposed to go there?? I ended up at Bok Tower Gardens in the city. Initially, I wasn’t excited about this touristy stop because it wasn’t a beach but I loved it. I was able to hike and it was the first time that I was able to quietly read through the book of Esther in the Bible.

There are several life and death plots in the story and the gallows were what initially stood out to me the most. To me, they represent compromise and I used the shape to provide framework for the collage’s composition.

The trip in many respects was life-changing for me. At the gardens, I saw a girl who looked like how I imagined Esther. I was too shy to ask if I could take her picture but I was able to use a distant, blurry photo that I did get of her as a model for the pieces. A few days later I also unexpectedly got to hear Bill Johnson speak at a church - a pastor out of California who happened to be in Florida ten minutes from where I was staying with a friend. I left that mini-vacation with the word ‘precision’ — be precise with your money and your time. The trip honestly changed my attitude and was grounding for me. Several images from my time there are in both collages that I completed on Esther.

*If you are interested, I have written more narrative on these collages on my Instagram account.

process:

I used a photograph of a bridge in Indianapolis that I photographed. I ‘mirrored’ and enlarged the image in Photoshop and then printed it in pieces on 11x17” paper. These were tiled together on canvas. I then collaged/painted on top of it.