Disarmed
Influenced by postwar literature, true-crime television, and documentary photography of the 1970s, the intimately scaled paper collages in Disarmed (2011–12) depict everyday interior and exterior worlds that subtly suggest a deeper, often unsettling narrative. The layered-paper medium, small scale, and hard-edge-painting approach of the collages contrasts with the subject matter, lending a concrete physicality—an almost gem-like quality—to scenes that otherwise feel fleeting. This approach is inspired by the phenomenon of trauma perception, in which the senses become heightened and the brain takes equal note of all stimuli present during the traumatic event, regardless of whether they are pertinent or not. Minuscule details like an electrical wall socket or candlestick wick thus take on a strange significance, while the main clause of the story is always left blank.