Seeds of Cognizance
“Seeds of Cognizance”represents the beginning of a new awareness of life and the struggles that comewith learning to accept this new reality. Focusing on the transition fromchildhood to adolescence, it exists with the fragility of the memories of atime in life or which I was never aware. It was at this time in my life that I moved from the Midwest to coastalNorth Carolina; because of that, I have always struggled to understand myrelationship with my environment. The photographs serve as ametaphor for an invisible barrier between the imaginative and adventurousnature of childhood and the insecurities and anxieties of adolescence. Usinghandcrafted glass plates, I photograph playgrounds, interiors, and forestlandscapes in a way that shows their potential for the vastness of childhoodimagination. The glass plate process emphasizes the tension and fragility ofthis period of life as the images struggle to show through the cracks and flawsin the glass. On a personal level, this projectis my attempt to come to terms with a landscape that I have never feltcomfortable calling home. By taking the objects and memories from my midwesternchildhood and placing them within the southern landscapes, I am bridging thecultural gap between the two locations and enabling myself to find thesimilarities between the two. The portrait series followsthe same ideas as the landscapes. By placing myself as an adult within thefantasy roles from my childhood, I am questioning how my identity is influencedby the different roles I have played as I have transitioned from childhood toadolescence and now into adulthood.
“Seeds of Cognizance”represents the beginning of a new awareness of life and the struggles that comewith learning to accept this new reality. Focusing on the transition fromchildhood to adolescence, it exists with the fragility of the memories of atime in life or which I was never aware. It was at this time in my life that I moved from the Midwest to coastalNorth Carolina; because of that, I have always struggled to understand myrelationship with my environment. The photographs serve as ametaphor for an invisible barrier between the imaginative and adventurousnature of childhood and the insecurities and anxieties of adolescence. Usinghandcrafted glass plates, I photograph playgrounds, interiors, and forestlandscapes in a way that shows their potential for the vastness of childhoodimagination. The glass plate process emphasizes the tension and fragility ofthis period of life as the images struggle to show through the cracks and flawsin the glass. On a personal level, this projectis my attempt to come to terms with a landscape that I have never feltcomfortable calling home. By taking the objects and memories from my midwesternchildhood and placing them within the southern landscapes, I am bridging thecultural gap between the two locations and enabling myself to find thesimilarities between the two. The portrait series followsthe same ideas as the landscapes. By placing myself as an adult within thefantasy roles from my childhood, I am questioning how my identity is influencedby the different roles I have played as I have transitioned from childhood toadolescence and now into adulthood.
