Artist’s Statement 

Repair Conundrum is a digital photomontage that addresses the ideas of resilience, mechanical decay, and female agency in post-apocalyptic and steampunk narratives. Set against a vast, barren desert beneath a fiery sunset, the piece captures a moment of urgent collaboration between three women attempting to repair a derelict steam locomotive.

This work explores the intersection of storytelling and symbolism. The locomotive serves as both a literal subject and a metaphor: a once-mighty engine now coughing sparks and smoke, waiting for someone—anyone—to restore its purpose. The urgency of its repair echoes broader themes of environmental collapse, social disconnection, and the fading traces of industrial progress.

The characters in the scene are central to this narrative. They are not passive or decorative; they are thinkers, workers, and collaborators. Each woman represents a different emotional and functional response to crisis: analysis, frustration, and support. Their clothing, tools, and postures draw from bohemian and post-industrial fashion, conveying a world where utility, survival, and individuality must coexist. I deliberately chose to portray women in these roles to challenge traditional associations of mechanical expertise with masculinity. In this imagined future—or alternate present—it is women who carry the burden and the brilliance of repair.

The image is constructed from multiple photographic elements—figures, machinery, sky, terrain—layered and blended digitally to create a hyperreal, painterly tableau. I aim for a cinematic quality that captures not just a scene, but a story paused mid-frame: sparks flying, tempers flaring, time slipping away.

At its heart, Repair Conundrum is about the beauty and complexity of problem-solving—about what it means to confront broken systems with creativity, grit, and teamwork. It’s a visual meditation on persistence, and on the quiet power of those who choose to fix what others abandon.

— Linda Lewis