"American" means different things to different people. Yet there are undeniably certain symbols that everyone agrees are American. The cowboy is one of those.

As a teen and a newly naturalized U.S. citizen, I desperately tried to appear as American as possible, always careful to conform to my surroundings.

The mythic cowboy's individualism and lack of self-consciousness make him an American hero. In a deliberate attempt to conform, I was, in fact, being inauthentic and un-American.

Before photography, my favorite fine art medium was oil pastel. In this body of work, I try to emulate the look of pastels by "dragging" light and panning the camera. I find the softness and hyper-realistic colors best express my romanticized impressions of the cowboy.

www.pigmentiagallery.com