Every Three Seconds (1993)
The title of this body of work, "Every Three Seconds," refers to the often cited statistic that a woman is raped every three seconds in the United States. Each piece incorporates text. The large pieces have the text typed directly on to the negative, thus the size of the text is proportionate to the size of the negative. The 20x17 inch silver gelatin prints are a combination of a contact print from a medium format negative and an enlargement of text, which was typed onto transparent acetate. The resulting print is a combination of the enlarged text and the contact print. As the acetate advanced through the typewriter, the words degraded, became out of alignment and difficult to read. This warping of language underscores the nature and character of the subject matter. The quotes were taken from a variety of sources including court testimonials, psychological textbooks about sexual predators as well as casual conversation. None of the quotes are fictitious.