The idea of making [conceptual] art was not a good way to approach things... Instead I saw myself as trying to make something that my relatives could understand.

My work involves the physical manifestation of emotional reality. Thus, the invisible becomes visible the normal, abnormal and the familiar, unfamiliar. Ordinary life is an endless source of fascination to me in its ritualistic objects and behavior.

If you could see a photograph of what it took to make an advertising photograph - things you don't think about, like the photo assistant carefully arranging the meatballs - the degree of unnaturalness would be astonishing. Yet it produces an image that looks natural, and is orchestrated to provoke basic emotional responses.

I consider myself fortunate that photography exists, because otherwise I'd be stuck in the tragedy of ephemeralness that can come with installation art.