Artist Statement
My photographic work seeks to investigate the self and personality through experience and emotion. An integral intention of this work is the exploration of the psychology of the family structure and how it affects each member; each person in the world. I am showing my personal processes as someone who is asking questions about family history, personality, and interpersonal relationships. I am thinking about how personality and memory can be shaped by experiences and emotions. Using myself as an example, I begin to explore these issues by taking self-portraits and photographs of objects or scenes that are psychologically charged for me. I revisit the houses I grew up in, taking a much closer look at rooms and objects I have seen thousands of times before. These things have become institutions in my mind and history, yet I try to analyze them with a different intention. I return to the staples of my early life, which are now either frozen in time or totally destroyed and changed. This causes me to reflect upon the changes that I myself have undergone, or the lack thereof. Sifting through old possessions and documents, I am re-discovering them and perhaps trying to unlock some kind of meaning. It is as if each individual object is a piece to discovering who we all are. By sharing my own experiences, I hope that viewers can see part of themselves there, and ask questions of their own.