A farewell to arms

20” x 24”

scanned photographs

Archival Inkjet prints

Image one:  

And this was the price you paid for sleeping together.  This was the end of the trap.  This was what people got for loving each other.

Image two:

“There, darling. Now you’re clean inside and out. Tell me. How many people have you ever loved?”  ”Nobody.”  ”Not even me?”  ”Yes you.”  ”How many others really?”   “None.”  ”How many have you—how do you say it?—stayed with?”  ”None.”  ”You’re lying to me.”  ”Yes.” “It’s all right.  Keep on lying to me.  That’s what I want you to do.”

Image three:

If people bring so much courage to the world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them.  The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken place.  But those that will not break it kills.  It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially.  If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too, but there will be no special hurry.  

Image four:  

But we were never lonely and  never afraid when we were together.  I know that the night is not the same as the day; that all things are different, that the things of the night cannot be explained in the day, because they do not then exist, and the night can be a dreadful time for the lonely once their loneliness has started.