About the Work

"It is I, Osiris.  I am joyful as a stone."
     Awakening Osiris — Normandi Ellis

 Cape Ann is all about stone--stone and water.

I feel good when I'm around the great mounds of granite that you find on Cape Ann beaches.  I love moving over and among the massive shapes, exploring cracks and hollows and watching the tide reveal, then conceal, colonies of life clinging to the low parts.

These images were made last November when I spent a month with my family in Annisquam, a part of Gloucester.  Before setting up the camera, I sought to slow down and sense the inner structure of the stone.  As I became able to do this, I enjoyed a heightened feeling of awareness and intimacy.  Joyful as a stone? Somehow Osiris' declaration began to make sense.