Artist Statement   I began photographing the human form in it’s various ways in early 1985 as an art student at the Center for Creative Studies College of Art and Design. My wife, and first model, was very patient sitting behind broken windows in abandoned buildings. Maryann, a figure model employed by CCS sat for me soon after. The difference between the two models was that Maryann was several months pregnant. Her figure, with the protruding abdomen, changed the way I viewed the form. I photographed Maryann all through her pregnancy and came away with some very warm yet riveting images of mother and newborn. Several years later, while exploring thousands of images, I came across Maryann again. My desire was to print her late term pregnancy negatives again, only this time, with a different and not so literal approach. After selecting the image I wanted to work with, I made contact prints of the negative both normal and than reversed. Next, I combined the normal and reverse photographs creating a completely different image. The first of these abstractions "Boabab", an African term meaning exceedingly thick-trunk, was created. The complications in creating these images both artistically and technically are vast. Artistically, they are accomplished through post visualization. While photographing the model, I spend little time directing. I explain to them that the process is to create in the darkroom not in the studio. In the camera viewfinder I see only a figure before me not the finished work. Thus, the models ability to perform by moving and creating various forms allows me greater possibilities in the post-visualization creation stage. My early figure abstractions consisted of only two panel photographs. Trying to see the interesting shapes the body would create using this approach was, and still is, my only intention. Although, when I began incorporating four panels, something strange happened. Viewers, as well as myself, began seeing matter in them. The observations varied with the viewers - most departed with different interpretations. I discovered something one might find under a microscope while others found them to have sexual overtones. One comment by a viewer was "you are either very creative or very sick". I prefer the former. The normal human body is symmetrical in shape. In keeping with that, I find it very important for these human abstractions to maintain that near perfect symmetry. These images are created by hand and eye without the means of mechanical registration or computer. Another amusing, but often frustrating aspect in creating these photographs is titling them. I spend hours scanning through dictionaries seeking the right work that best describes what I see. As painstaking as it sometimes can be, titling artwork is very important and incomplete without. Regardless of your personal observations, I have created something disjunctive from what started out as a very literal image. I hope that one views these images with fun and an open mind. Bill Sampson