The images I create are depictions of environments in states of chaos and serenity, order and decay. These invented places resonate as hauntingly real spaces and through their dichotomous format and content pose questions to the viewer about their relationship to society. The interiors conjure feelings of both isolation and involvement. Onlookers are invited into my spaces to be enchanted by the effects of age and neglect or to fear its hidden dangers and secrets. The viewer can, as I do, revel in the possibility for beauty in chaos, of life in deterioration. The places that I create, buildings and interiors, are symbolic of us and our relationship with the old, the new and each other. The presence of figures and animals in decrepit spaces, appearing often my the work, reflects a curious posturing, which is at times, self-conscious or vulnerable, defiant or nonplussed.

Although I never photograph myself, occasionally the stance or expression of the figures and animals, is strikingly and poignantly close to my self-perception. When this happens the images become a kind of self portrait. With the body of work, "Main Street Parade," the images became more personal and ask pointed questions, doing less to obscure iconography and subject matter. All of the works begin with the photographic imagery that I layer with drawn/painted/digital elements, creating strange worlds, interiors that have never been experienced but seem strangely familiar. These images are then realized in the form of large-scale mixed media works utilizing a variety of print techniques including lithographs, etchings, Van Dykes, Iris prints, collotypes and artists books. I recently finished, "The Grand Stand," a series of intimate images that close in on imagined places, at times giving away secrets the place might hold and at other times making the viewer aware of the complexity, fragility, and temporal qualities of place. Using found, photographed, computer generated and drawn mages, I build upon the narrative strucures established in my previous work.

Cassandra Hooper received a BFA in Printmaking from California State University/Long Beach and a MFA in Printmaking from the State University of New York in Purchase. Hooper has taught printmaking classes at the Parsons School of Design and the Kansas City Art Institute. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Art at SUNY/Purchase. Hooper's work is included in numerous collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and the Washington University Library, St. Louis.

Hooper has been involved in numerous national and international exhibitions. Some of her recent shows include: All American Print Competition, Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria, LA; One Size Fits All, Theater X, SUNY/Purchase; and the 21st Salon Internationale de la Rechercher Photographique, International Center for Photography, Royen Cedex, France.