Artist's Statement:

"The Black Madonna is an icon with a presence throughout the world.  One asks why she is black.  The answer for me is that she represents the other side, the earth, the  mysterious and sensuous side of life, a needed balance to the Virgin Mary - ideally good and pure - and therefore often quite remote.  Several years ago I began visiting sites of The Black Madonna.  I not only felt the connection of this Icon to my own personal life but to the living being - contemporary woman. As a result, I understood more clearly my desire to photograph women and the feminine energy."