Falling Behind

13×19″ (cradle board 0.75″ deep)
Cut Paper on Birch Panel

An original Cut Paper work on cradled birch panel using over 1000 small pieces of up-cycled magazine paper from several sources, adhered to birch panel with archival adhesive and varnished with UVL-blocking Gamvar gloss varnish, to prevent fading. Sides of birch panel painted for frameless display.

This piece shows a group of hikers, with one individual falling behind the group in a cold landscape of snow and ice, with undefined borders of where the people are coming from or where they are going. The title speaks to a universal human experience of falling behind, whether in life or career or relationships, and the panic that sometimes ensues when a person feels the impossibility of catching up to the group or expectations. However, an advantage to falling behind is sometimes a new perspective on the journey and the destination. Maybe the person who is behind is actually closer to a better destination than where the group is heading to. Maybe they will be the only person to survive in a bleak environment, or maybe they will be the only one to perish.