I created the photographic construction "Jackie Robinson" in 1997 for the show "The Games We Play" at the Sande Webster Gallery in Philadelphia. I chose the subject of Jackie Robinson to honor his struggle and courage in breaking baseballs racial segregation. It is part of a continuing series of constructions on the theme of the arts and the entertainment fields. The work is comprised of wood, found objects and photographic silver prints that are toned, bleached, painted and mounted on wood. I have been working on photographic constructions since 1988. "Jackie Robinson" is a piece in the continuing attempt to bring my work out of the frame, off of the wall and into real space. Photography is a potent way in which our culture identifies itself. I concur with the writer Roland Barthes when he states: "By nature, the photograph...has something tautological about it: the pipe, here, is always and intractably a pipe. It is as if the photograph always carries its referent with itself..." In my work I seek to explore the area between what we perceive as real and what we construct as reality. Pete Checchia - 1998