The eye is so subjective. What one chooses to see, or not remains a mystery.

ARTISTS’ STATEMENT:

I drive a deep interest in place and how that shapes us, the interstitial connection of family, home, and the symmetry and parallels of nature. My work is influenced deeply by home interiors and interiority, the thoughts feelings, reactions, internal struggles of an individual, and how they are represented in a domestic interior space.

When I turn my gaze to deteriorating architecture, I see structures designed to be huge forces of permanence, yet they are continually being challenged, destroyed, and forgotten. They possess an engergized present–and presence–as they attempt to escape their fragmented reality.

Looking can be transformative, unsettling, and also deeply and pleasurably confusing.

My work is influenced by practicing artists Andrea Poe, Barbara Sullivan, Thomas Doyle, Amy Bennett, and Julie Blackmon.

PUBLICATIONS:

Leslie’s work has been published in various literary and art journals, including: Up the Staircase Quarterly (cover art), Another Chicago Magazine (ACM),  Wild Roof Journal, Spring-Summer, Brushfire Arts & Literature, The Closed Eye Open, Tiferet Journal, Mud Season Review, Western Michigan Review, Fall 2023 and On the Seawall. Model Home: A Study Under Compression, a photo essay in miniature, April 2023. 

What do we really see when we see an object, an artwork, another person–is it impossible to really see them? Can we ever really know ourselves?

Among the clutter—the shards of wood, layers of rubble, chipping coats of paint—there remains a gentle resolve. These places, often on the brink of ruin, possess an energized present–and presence–as they attempt to escape their fragmented reality; it is a story which tells us who we are.

Using assemblage and photography to examine domestic labor and material memory, I was interested in everyday tools and natural elements, using restraint and clarity to reflect attention to place, process, and the value of ordinary labor.