It’s not the end of the world; quite the opposite. Jessie and I realized rushing through such a meticulous process, and disrupting the kids’ school year, when we’re both still working our way back to full health from that nasty virus...
...not ideal.
Our house has come a long way towards being ready to rent, but it’s not there yet. Working on the details between now and April, for a June 1 departure, is way more doable. So even though we hoped to make it sooner, I don’t feel trapped in Taos at the moment.
We’ve done so much to get ready for moving. Slowing down and focusing on being full strength to start a new life in California is exciting.
My family and I have come a long way in a short period of time. (We're rock solid.)
Truth is, the 2020’s have been difficult, as the pandemic disrupted our lives in profound ways.
In 2020, I started documenting my neighborhood walks on Instagram, to help spread peaceful energy at a hard time.
Then I got a new camera, and began documenting my life here in Taos during 2021.
I made pictures all year long, and have been editing them ever since.
Trying to find the right way to tell the story of a challenging, emotionally devastating year.
I showed the pictures to a couple of people in Poland, and emailed a curator or two, so it’s time to put the work out there.
Here. On Sunshine and Olly.
I’ll share the artist statement below, and then the pictures, to Trapped in Paradise.
Hope you appreciate the work!
Trapped in Paradise
2021 was the worst year of my life.
(Worse than 2020 even.)
My wife was recovering from clinical depression. My mother-in-law evaporating to Alzheimer's Disease. And my children were withering, stuck at home part year, as the schools were still closed during the pandemic.
Mid-life is famously tough, but for Jessie and me, some of those days felt like actual torture.
I was 30 lbs overweight, unhealthy, and unhappy.
However, I live in a beautiful place; a horse farm in the village of Arroyo Hondo, just outside Taos, New Mexico.
And I love my wife and children more than anything on Earth.
During the Covid 19 pandemic, my family and I found ourselves enmeshed in deep misery, yet walking in circles around the gorgeous farm and adjoining dirt roads.
(Or driving aimlessly around photogenic Taos, with nowhere to go.)
I felt trapped in paradise, as even when vaccines became available, we still spent 2021 in a state of suspended animation, desperate to avoid getting my Mother-in-law sick.
Bonnie became less communicative each passing day, and was mentally gone by late May of that year. (She passed in December 2023.)
In order to stay sane, amidst the chaos, I made this photographic project, shooting pictures the entire year.
These images represent my world in Taos as I know it, having spent the majority of my adult life here.
They’re also chronological.
They record a state of mind, pulsing with energy: claustrophobic, anxious, vibrational.
The exceptions, the beautiful ones, break the tension and represent the joy of healing.
Sunshine and Olly 
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