| Tenderness Studies In making this body of work, I regularly asked myself, “What is natural?” I am both amazed and perplexed by the varied ways in which humans choose to live their lives and the absurdity of our futile attempts to exist separate from the natural world and our own true nature. In my attempt to better understand humankind, I critique how societal expectations, as they relate to gender roles, identity politics and lifestyle choices interact and interfere with the development of authentic identity. I pursue my inquiry through images related to home and childhood because I believe that the need for home, though impossible to easily define, is as innate to humans as the connection that children feel to the natural world. I address the follies of western culture playfully as I struggle to define home and account for the loss of the childhood connection to the natural world that is often left behind as a consequence of growth. |