JUMP

The American Legion Memorial Bridge is located on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. For decades I drove slowly across it to marvel those who jumped into water twenty plus feet below. The thought to tackle it as a subject did not occur to me until I was years into documenting my father’s advancing Alzheimer’s. Unlike experiencing Dad’s lethargic physical state, the energy at this bridge was electric and a welcome distraction.

Starting during the summer of 2000 and continuing over the next six years, I diligently documented thousands of people, young and old, at that moment of commitment to JUMP. It did not take long into this endeavor to realize that the struggle to record the act of jumping profoundly affected me. It was at this bridge that I was experiencing the loss of my father.