Project Yoshi

Artist Statement

This series showcases a variety of situations in which Yoshi, a fictional character from the Mario video game franchise, is placed in but not the central point of the photos. Rather, he is more of a hidden detail, although how hidden he is fluctuates between the photos.

Yoshi is my favorite video game character, someone I have a lot of memories playing as growing up. I have a lot of memorabilia of him, as well, especially plushes. I have all different shapes, sizes, from one that can fit in the palm of your hand to one that sits at around the size of a small dog or cat. While I also have Yoshis in different colors, I wanted to stick with the well-known green for this series as it would make it easier to identify him in each photo.

I wanted to experiment with photography techniques that make the photos seem more staged that usual, taking inspiration from artists such as Gregory Crewdson, Dina Goldstein, and Sandy Skoglund, especially when it came to photos with people in them. This has also given me the opportunity to work with others, something I would like to gain more experience in. Additionally, I took many photos featuring Yoshi sitting in an open, natural environment, all across Keene State College campus. It was sort of like a reserve scavenger hunt, instead of looking for something already in place, I was searching for where it would be placed. Overall, I wanted to give my photos a slight uncanny feeling as I arrange them in a more meticulous way than other types of shots with people or environments.

This photo series features an element of Yoshi, shown in a variety of forms. Whether he is alone or with others, these represents how I like to fit him into almost every aspect of my life.