Top to bottom, left to right:
The Fix, Storytelling Issue: Cover photo from a narrative I created, "Thank you for the lights," a series about memories both negative and positive involving past romantic relationships. This series is featured in the magazine, along with photos from the narratives below. // "The Intimacy of Film," a short narrative and blurb about my opinions concerning film vs. digital. Featured in the Storytelling Issue of The Fix Magazine.
Narrative 1, Why flowers?, featured in The Fix magazine
People carrying flowers have always intrigued me, because it makes me wonder who they're from or who they're for. The flowers could be from or for a lover, they could be to mourn a loved one, they could be a treat to oneself, they could be for an event or holiday; the possibilities are endless. These two profiles are the beginning of an ongoing project I am creating that involves asking people why they are carrying flowers.
Photo caption 1: This first encounter was in December with a man named Shelton, who is from Allentown but lives in Wilkinsburg. The flowers are from his daughter, whom he just had dinner with. His wife died a couple days ago, and his eyes silently welled up with tears as I took photos of him. He was waiting for his bus back to Wilkinsburg. Shelton told me, "I'm taking life as it is, and being as I am." He proceeded to tell me that he wished there was something he could do for me, because he said that I had seen him and made him feel better with our conversation. He asked me if I would be feeling ok once I got back home. My eyes welled up with tears. I told him that everything will be okay eventually, but it can be hard sometimes. "Why is that?" he asked; Shelton didn't realize I had asked that because of the clear fact that the closest person to him no longer physically exists in this world, he was concerned with my well being as much as I was concerned with his. We hugged and parted ways.
2: The second person I encountered was a woman celebrating the day of Yemanja, Queen of the Ocean, at Point State Park. I was sitting at the Point, enjoying the uncharacteristically warm February evening, when I saw her walk by with a bouquet of white roses. I was immediately intrigued but nervous to approach her. When I finally decided to approach her, she was at the river’s edge and threw the bouquet into the river but continued to stand there. Her name is Donna Carole Roberts, and she is the director and producer of a film she is making with her husband called Yemanja. The film is a documentary about women, nature and faith in the culture of Bahia, Brazil. I had never witnessed someone throwing flowers into the river, and I thought it may have been to mourn a loved one. She was making a sacrifice for Yemanja, on the day of celebration, and the river was the closest she could get to an ocean.
Narrative 2, Monachopsis (2015-present)
The subtle yet persistent feeling of being out of place.
Featured in The Fix, exhibited in West Penn gallery, downtown Pittsburgh.
The issue of identity largely deals with gender and race. While those categories have affected me in certain ways, personally, they have not raised conflict throughout my own life. However, I have felt somewhat out of place quite frequently. I thought this would change once college began, but instead it took an interesting twist and I discovered new ways that I felt out of place. Generally, I have always felt a disconnect between myself and most of the people I interact with, a somewhat permanent wall that makes it difficult for me to become close with people. The disconnect I found in college, despite the similarities and connections I have made with people, involve the confusion of the concept of home and the general disconnect I have felt the majority of my life.
Through this series of photos taken in Murrysville, where I have lived the majority of my life, I captured spaces that I feel a disconnect from at times. The spaces exhibited are a documentation of memories associated with experiences and feelings prior to college, although the images were taken while in college.
I feel that no matter where life takes me, I will continue to feel this strange disconnect through my interactions with people and with the chaos that can inhabit my mind. Monachopsis serves as an artistic outlet to document and show how I am attempting to understand the disconnect I am experiencing.
