Artist Statement

Photography is but one of the ways I feel compelled to express myself as an artist. Wielding a camera is the only way I have successfully been able to flatten out my world when I need to.

I photograph what interests me: the nooks and crannies of life, metaphor. I frame each picture as I want it to appear on paper. The only manipulation was in the camera before it went click.

This collection of pictures is a fraction of the thousands of photos I have taken in my lifetime and this is the first time I have ever displayed any for others to see.

Italians have had a profound impact on my life and the time had come for me to bring some old memories in to my present and live with them differently than before.

In 1994 I had the privilege of working as an apprentice (serventine) in a glass factory (Studio Rosin) on the island of Murano in the Veneto, Italy. For the six months I was there I was perpetually captivated and drunken by the intricacies of their culture. No aspect of my experience was less than fascinating; but it was far too short.

These photos are a few depictions of the world in which I lived. I assumed a type of macro/micro existence while in the Veneto. I was far away and yet very close to everything. Vague, I know, but perhaps the images will help.

- Ferdinand Thieriot