One day in the doctor’s office, looking at yet another set of x-ray films of my disabled body, I was struck by the strange beauty of bones—the soft, delicate shading of grays and blacks in contrast to the starkness of the metal materials pierced through the bones. When the doctor stepped out, I snapped some digital photos of my x-rays, and later at home I worked with them in Photoshop.

Suddenly, these pieces of bone came to life. What was hidden beneath layers of skin and muscle became exposed. I began looking at the contrast between my photography of bones and pieces of nature and paintings I had made depicting a variety of subjects. Layering these diverse images together reminded me of the complexity of life—what we hold covered up and hidden now lay in front of me revealed. Comparing bones with ordinary pieces of beauty—a rose, leaf, or a moth’s wings arrayed with detailed designs—I was reminded how in our crazy lives we pass by so quickly the details of the natural world as well as the complexity of our bodies.

The intent of my digital work is to bring attention to hidden layers of life. With my work I ask that viewers continue to look deeper, into both my work and into their own lives. Hoping that as they discover a hidden wing of a butterfly, or first see the grayness of my background for what it is, a bone, they will be reminded that our lives are never what they appear at first glance, layers are just part of life. Seeing these layers, investigating these layers, is part of becoming more aware.