Artist Statement

For 40 years, I have used photography to peer into subcultures and intimate worlds that would otherwise be closed to me. I want to understand those worlds and the people there. Having the camera gives me a way in, a reason to connect.

My work consists of carefully chosen projects, which last for many years. The people I like to photograph are sex workers, sadomasochists, genderqueer hedonists, crossdressers, gamblers, fugitives. They are my muses because they act out the urges most of us try to repress.  

My first work, the American Ecstasy series, came about when I got the opportunity to work as a set photographer on hardcore movies in the early 1980s here in New York. I was blown away by the access I had to shoot raw sex and especially the people who performed it. I want my images to help the viewers to connect with them on an emotional level, and see them simply as fellow humans.