Many moons ago, when I was attending Parsons School of Design, my professor Brixton Doyle gave the class an assignment to create a self-portrait that was 10” x 10”. On the day the assignment was due, all the students hung their 10” x 10” works on the wall. I took this assignment in a different direction. 10” x 10” was 100 cubic inches. What I did was created a cylinder that had a surface area of 100 cubic inches. I submitted this self-portrait as the answer to the assignment. My work sat on a flat surface, instead of hanging on a wall. Inside the cylinder were certain items and texts about me. I’m writing this more than two decades after I created it. So, I couldn’t quite tell you why I used a doll inside the cylinder. The photograph presented here of the cylinder is more than two decades old. At the time, the fluid inside was clearer and fuller.

I think for people to fully understand the scope of my work, or, to understand one of the driving forces behind it, is to understand the history of my childhood. When I was a teenager I was in two comas with viral encephalitis and vasculitis. The medical team did not think my survival of these events looked promising. However, here I am, still living and having a pretty good crack at life. These medical traumas had a severe impact on not only my creativity and art but also my way of life. The two eyes and/or two pupils have at times shown up in my work. This particular drawing was made at the hospital on a rare occasion when my consciousness woke.