Andrew Ortiz
Measured Disorder
The images enclosed are examples from a new body of work titled Measured Disorder. It is a highly personal narrative of my struggles with seizure disorders. Dark in both emotional content and physical appearance, the images are computer manipulated collages of original digital photographs and scanned items that seek to express the intense psychological impact of dealing with physical challenges. I have had epilepsy for over thirty years and it has taken me this long to begin a body of work about it. A review of a recent gallery exhibition of this work referred to them as self-portraits, which is partially true since many include my face or body. However, they are also meant to express a process and an experience – what it’s like having seizures as well as the medical “measuring” one undergoes on an ongoing basis. Sometimes disembodied, sometimes clinical, sometimes mystical, the images attempt to communicate my varied experiences with epilepsy. The two images of crows are from a series of self portraits titled Blackbirds exploring communication.