Explaining my work is diﬃcult for me. I rely on memory, which is often fractured, sometimes insistent, other times elusive. I listen. I collect things and put them together. I like the mix of words and image. I use a camera, but I am not a photographer. The computer is as much of a tool for me as the camera is. I am attracted to the odd, the sensual, the awe striking moment. Narrative is nice but not necessary. I rely on experience, which isn’t always reliable. I like the act of articulation, which pretty much describes how the work feels to me. Consequently I have made picture books with writing in them, and I have made films, both of which incorporate collage.

The images I have made in the past 25 years have generally been narrative in nature. My animated film, A Still Life, 2007, a collaboration with the actress Penny Lynn White, is essentially a slide show—images taken with a still camera telling the story of a woman living alone after the loss of her lover. Changeling, from 2012, recalls the AIDS epidemic using both words and pictures in book form. The Sappho pictures, 2016-2025, evolved from my fascination with myth. She lived at a time that was closer to it than ours is. For this series, I use her words and my images. My latest book, Some Fuckers, 2024, is another illustrated memoir, a collection of stories told by gay men of my generation about our sexual experiences.

I have lived in various places in the United States and once in France. I was born and raised in Kentucky and live here now. Someone once described me as an outsider, and that felt true. I didn’t know if it was a compliment or not.