"When I make a photograph I want it to be an altogether new object, complete and self-contained." - Aaron Siskind
We innately recognize the gesture of the written word, regardless of whether we understand the language being used. At what point of confrontation does this relationship change hands from merely being letters that form words and ideas to that of the visual language of line, gesture, shape, color, light and intensity that comprise art? How does context and scale either define or make this relationship more ambiguous?
"The Continuing Fragmentation of Language" is about the interpreting and abstracting of graffiti by removing the importance of its physical location and literal meaning in favor of leaving hints that it once was bound to a surface but is now an artistic composition. By using a short depth of field I have been able to illuminate letters, create depth where none existed, and take the written word one step closer to abstract painting. The graffiti artist communicates on a visual level while reinterpreting the written word. I, in turn, present to you my interpretation with the intention of beautifying what most people dismiss as ugly or the degradation of surface.