In the beginning of the 90's I discovered collaging. At a time when I was reeling from mental images that had few words, I felt the only way to take away their power was to put them out on paper. And it worked.

My process was to gather images from magazines—no editing, no thinking, no predetermined theme. Often I didn't realize the whole meaning for months. I won't go into the detail on the symbology in my collages, but I will say this. Colors are significant to me, as well as hands, full moons, and the number three. Oh yeah, and let's not forget the religious overtones.

By the end of the 90's, I found my words again. I found peace with my past. Below are the not pretty pictures from that time period. Hard to look at. Hard to live through.

Birth of Truth
THE most difficult of my collages. At the time, I felt I had to tell the truth. And it was like giving birth to some abomination through my mouth. The full moon is my witness. Note the “truth” being born is made up of pieces of a picture of an actual dead person. The last thing I put in the picture was the pool of blood.

Body Prison
This is two collages in one. Weighing too much, I felt imprisoned in my own body. But underneath it all was even scarier.

Can't Pray No More
Maybe it's my warped mind, but I find this picture to be almost peaceful. The woman is committing suicide after being beaten up by her husband. The sky mosaic on the floor symbolizes her release from the reality of this world.

Crying
You cry, I cry, we all cry. This one is dedicated to crying and why I cry.

Detour
Put the brakes on mama, the road's no longer there and it's Detour time whether you're ready for it or not. This is one of those ‘no goin back’ collages. This is one of those enforced forks in the road.

End of the Tunnel
Someone asked me to do a collage of what I wanted more than anything. And when I finished I knew all I wanted was a light at the end of my tunnel. The woman in the picture is actually a woman who survived a hurricane with nothing but that light.

Help
Something cutters might understand.

Hiding
I was feeling so vulnerable when I did this collage. It was one of those days where I wanted to hide from everybody, and of course, I take my gun with me. You never know.

House On Fire
To me this says it all. The house is on fire and it's not safe. Nailed to the cross in the middle of my road. The moon witnesses my isolation, pain, blood, and betrayal. Others keep me in my place.