The photorealist painter uses the paintbrush to convey the world as in a photograph and I, as a photographer, use my camera as an instrument to impressionist and part abstractionist, I want to convey to the viewer the world we see is part of a larger reality and what appears to be clear and in focus is only our perception.

My latest series Submerge, explores the relationship we human beings have with the environment, both in the personal and the universal context. We as humans are not separate from the Earth. The human body contains 70% of water fluids and the oceans waters covers more than 70% of the Earth itself. Water represents our connectedness to the Earth and to each other. Submerge is the courage and willingness to take the leap nto the depths of the Waters of the Soul.

in this series, I have photographed Demi, who is eleven years old. In these photographs, she appears older than her years as Demi is representing a universal theme. As she symbolically and metaphorically explores the depths of who she is, she at once becomes universal and not separate from the Waters surrounding her. She leaps into the pool, and for a few seconds, she is suspended in the womb-like waters. Then she rises again to the surface. The waters represent her explorations as a separate human being seeking her own identity on the Earth.

– Cheryl Maeder