Artist's Statement
Photography by Ryan Ogle
My childhood was not filled with wealth or stability. As far back as I can remember, my parents were junkers, AKA pickers. As a teenager, unfortunate circumstances lead me to become a gutter punk. In other words, I lived on the streets of Charleston, South Carolina. My "home" was under bridges or squatting in abandoned warehouses. One positive to this lifestyle, is that I learned to utilize everything, because I had nothing. At the age of 20, I left Charleston, South Carolina, with nothing but a backpack and my dog. Together we walked and hitchhiked from the east coast to the west coast. Eventually I ended up in Portland, Oregon. Portland is where I met my wife, and for awhile, we sat down our roots. Then my life took another fork in
the road, and we decided to move to my wife's family farm in Berryton, Kansas. The farm's tree lines are still filled with scrap metal and tractor parts. Originally I obtained my materials for my art projects from the scrap metal and bones that I found on the farm during walks with my family. I have always considered myself to be artistic, and have worked in multiple mediums. During the past few years, I have become inspired by reclaiming materials, or up cycling. I see a type of beauty in decay. From decay there is birth. Whether the decay is urban, industrial or organic, I see potential. What others call trash, I see as pieces to a new puzzle. I see their potential to become part of something new, to begin again. That is why I take scrap metal and bones, or whatever I may find, and I give it a new life, a new purpose. It becomes...reclaimed.
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