Books inherently have a narrative quality, well suited as a medium for several ongoing and long-term projects. When creating a body of photographic work documenting single parent families, I created two books. They were born out of my own experiences but also addressed a set of shared realities many single parents are faced with - being the sole caregiver for a family.
In response to the "War on Terror" and the post 9/11 ongoing presence of US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, I became interested in making a visual response to this. My brother-in-law, Shawn Demenkow, was returning from a tour of duty in Iraq. I invited him to visit my classroom at Melrose High School, to meet with students and share his experiences with us. His visit was meaningful and memorable. Students engaged in discussion, viewed a slideshow of images taken by Sergeant Demenkow and created a sculptural book in response to his visit and their own feelings about the war.
