On Charcoal

My work begins with charcoal. It is my primary tool.

The blackness of the material against white or cream surfaces is stark. I think in dark and light, rather than light and dark.

Charcoal sits on the borderline between existence and disappearance. It is a remnant of fire and life. When I hold it, I hold the same material my ancestors once used to stay alive, to mark stories, to leave traces of themselves.