Brutal Embrace, Series of photographs, silk screen prints, collage and mixed media. 2018-2021
The source imagery for the works in Brutal Embrace are photographs of boxers I took ringside—mostly at Madison Square Garden in 2018 where the main event was a championship fight between Heather Hardy and Shelly Vincent.
What began as dynamic sports photographs, became a series of hand-printed 4-color silk screen prints. The prints zero in on details of boxers clenching in the fierce hug that is part of every match. The images point to the mixture of violence and tenderness, of strategy and exhaustion, intimacy and respect, embodied by these moments.
In the final stage of the project, I’ve physically manipulated the prints, brought in layers of visual interference through collage and paint, and mounted them onto traditionally gessoed panels. These additional interventions, heightened by the textures of the silkscreen process, take the images farther away from a descriptive, journalistic approach. By alternating cut strips, white-washing, or blacking over parts of the pictures, details are emphasized or obliterated leaving behind new configurations.
