I started the series, Backstory, after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. The tens of thousands of victims who were never identified or buried calls to mind similar events throughout history: the plague, the Holocaust, Rwandaa, and many others, as well as metaphorical piles of unacknowledged victims from AIDS, drug abuse, and child abuse. This series pays tribute to the anonymous, unceremonious mass deaths which punctuate human history, the backstory upon which so much civilization is built.

The figures are modeled from unfired white clay, approximately 1 1/2" long. They are assembled in shadow boxes or on steel plinths, as flags, targets, walls and other shapes. Their fragility, scale, and organizing principle evoke the tenuousness of human life.