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Much of my work develops from researching and tracing ideas of cultural progress. Some of my projects utilize photography in order to examine its documentary function, and its potential as a critical tool in examining ideas of historical truth.  Other projects look at the ways ideas are circulated, how these ideas change over time and become classified. I focus on the contexts and sources for the cultural production of ideas. These include institutions of education and access to knowledge such as museums, archives, books, libraries, publishing companies, universities and their presses.

The Daguerreotype Project originated from my interest in the history of the use of anesthesia. As a celebrated event in the history of both photography and American medicine, “the first use” of anesthesia was recorded with the daguerreotype sometime in the mid 1840’s and subsequently published widely in histories of medicine and photography. For this project I made 12 photographs of books that published two almost identical daguerreotypes.   Each photograph is paired with a text panel that indexes what that book said about the daguerreotype. It becomes apparent that none of