Pamela Murphy 

I collect old photographs and choose figures from them for my paintings.  The people whose lives are recorded in those pictures are strangers, and yet they are familiar.  I present these figures on a rich and textured background,  disconnected from their original context and recreated as icons for the viewer's personal connection.  Each viewer brings with them their own specific history, so a single image can mean different things to different people.  The figures exist in situations, or as objects, in which I hope the viewer will find a little of themselves.