My name is Michael Hawkins but I sign my work under HokNok (Hawk-Knock), a nickname given to me 20 years ago by an art director.

In 1985 I graduated with a BFA degree in photography, design and fine arts. Since then, my work has been printed, published and filmed for television.

My work is an exploration of various themes within the human soul. It’s a visual dialogue of life and death, grace and suffering, shame and glory.

Through photo-illustration and mixed media techniques, I will either turn my subjects into clay covered, living statues or light-paint a living still life of them.

Once completed, I then capture the process through photography and run the image through a series of alterations before the final output.

Much of my work involves nudes. Nudity represents the raw truth of the soul as well as exposure, innocence and vulnerability. There is no clothing to distract the message. The nudity is non-pornographic and closely resembles statues found in museums as well as classical paintings.

In fact, when people view my living statue work, they believe they are viewing actual statues and do not realize they are real people covered in clay, pigments and powders.

When they view my light paintings, they believe they are painted instead of photographed. This is largely due to the by-product of the light painting technique. This is a technique of lighting my subjects through the use of a fiber optic cable in total darkness while the camera takes a long exposure. By directing the fiber optic light towards the subject, I can “Paint” light were I want it to go as well as keep other areas in the dark.

As a artistic person, I enjoy the creative process immensely. I create because I have no choice… it’s as natural as breathing for me.