Throughout my life, the types of weapons I found the most frightening were the high-tech ones, like nuclear bombs, stealth bombers, and ICBMs. Now, terrorist acts and news reports from Iraq and Afghanistan have shifted my fears to weapons that are ramshackle, improvised constructions, and to everyday objects, like backpacks, box-cutters, and shoes. In paintings, sculptures, photographs, and installations, I discuss the destructive power inherent in everyday objects, and the particular fears Americans have of low-tech arms.

Until the Iraq War, I pictured our current military endeavors as streamlined, high-tech operations. The makeshift weapons of September 11th , the London and Madrid bombings, and the widespread use of IEDs in the decade following came in stark contrast to this. In some of my projects, I use imagery of IEDs to explore my fears of these low-tech weapons; visually, I feel their unsophisticated appearance brings forth ideas of these weapons being used anywhere at anytime, and most importantly, by anyone. In a sense, they are more frightening than attacks by conventional weapons, as they are not relegated to defined theatres of war.

The works aim to point out how improvised weapons, and security concerns about them, have become a familiar part of everyday life. They examine how makeshift weapons create specific fears in our high-tech, streamlined culture, and how our perception of certain day-to-day materials has changed. The works present a view of our current military engagements that is at once concrete and tangible in its materials, but that also reflects the indeterminate, undefined nature of unconventional weapons and global warfare.