It was while my work was at this exhibition that I believe that the photocopy transfers, which were an integral part of this work, were lost. Because of the size of the work and the fact that I was living in New York at the time, when the crate was returned it went directly into storage and I was unable to open it until about a year later after I had relocated to Los Angeles, whereupon I discovered that the transfers were missing. I know that they were in North Carolina at Light Factory because I saw them there, and the work was shipped directly from them to Salena Gallery. Somewhere between North Carolina and Brooklyn the pieces were lost. I distinctly remember having a conversation with the curator at the Salena Gallery about those pieces because he did not have the space to hang them with the photographs. Of course, a year later he recalled no such conversation.

Basically this experience turned me off on exhibiting my work. I lost irreplaceable originals and no one was culpable. I was never even compensated because it could never be proven that they had been shipped to Brooklyn. Every time I think about it, I get upset all over again. This, primarily, is why I prefer to have my work reproduced in publications and is why I rarely exhibit my photographs. Usually my participation in an exhibition now is due to a relationship with a trusted friend and colleague. Whenever I'm tempted to forget this experience, I have another negative one that reinforces my paranoia. For instance, when my work was returned from a recent, non-friend-related exhibition, it was sent poorly packed via regular U.S. mail without insurance (and was consequently left sitting outside my front door for an extended period of time), even though I had been assured that it would be returned using an insured shipper. Exhibiting artists, beware, and don't hesitate to be overly cautious about how your work is handled.