About the performer:

I never studied photography and have no background in dance, but gradually both took over my life. I would say my interest in photography began as a tourist when I purchased a camera to photograph Turkey when I was moving there to teach English in 1968. Upon my return to New York in the 70's, I worked at a gallery and met several visual artists - Joseph Beuys, Chris Burden, Hannah Wilke, and many others - who were forerunners of performance art. I became curious about their strength and their vulnerability required to create a new genre that was so raw. Making portraits seemed a way to learn more. In the eighties there was an explosion of creativity in all the arts, but it was contemporary dance that grabbed me as the most personal of the disciplines. The dancer is the dance. And as contemporary dance caught fire around the world, I liked its international flavor. Once the collection started, it had a life of its own. One could say I still retain the role of tourist to a world that continues to captivate me.