About

My love of photography began long before I ever held a camera in my hands. When I was a small girl, I spent a great deal of time with my maternal grandmother. She was never still; a product of midwestern farm life and the great depression. Her home and garden were always well tended, and everything had a place of belonging; the bedding, the gardening tools, the dry goods and most especially her seven grandchildren. This was my good fortune.  

Her home was a refuge and a place of wonderment for me. Nothing was off limits to explore and often my wandering led to treasures of incalculable wealth. In her guest room there was a large chest of drawers, not filled with clothing, but instead with photographs, newspaper clippings and family ephemera.  Precious were the moments when we would sit together and I would ask for the stories behind the faces and the scenery. It is here that I learned you could root yourself in a moment, and that the process of looking and asking were not only foundationally grounding, but could open pathways to creative generativity.

Where there is an image, there is a story. By returning to the places that ground us we learn to see things again, both for the first time and with new vision. Open the drawer. Take out the photographs. Look again. There is a profound, sacred power in the simple act of holding and connecting with an image. 

Return. Renew. Connect.

May it be so, in some small way as you sift through these images.

Michelle Cook