A multi-part series concerned with the abstract possibility of words. By resisting the inherent predispositions of language to assign coherent meaning, I found it quite malleable. Through this body of work, I’m attempting to deconstruct traditional communication, in favor of a more abstract approach, following its own logic.

The words found within these pictures are groupings of disparate images themselves, whose totality communicates meaning. The groupings are meshed with images to highlight their visual impact as symbols, as well as provide a third context beyond the words individually and as a whole. Mental connections drawn between the images and the words are the crux of how these photos manage to translate meaning to the viewer.

In an age of media saturation, many of the old gatekeepers of culture and information have been rendered obsolete. In their place, the democratization of the internet has created an environment where many ideas stand against one another without differentiation or signs of merit. Digital refuse clouds every social channel available to us. Amidst the sea of noise, it can be difficult to parse what truly matters beyond what has immediate or emotional impact. As a result, the meaning of our actions can feel dampened and the path of our lives aimless. This piece is a reflection on those feelings, using traditional media as a reference point for that which is dated and without strong purpose.

The results of making an image each day for 50 days, a reflection on fleeting thoughts and the turbulence of daily life. How we climb mountains of insight and stumble back down cyclically, which can be reassuring in a way

This series began as an experimental pairing of poetry and photography, combing phrases with images to create a cohesive whole. The words would represent the thoughts of the headless individuals, supplanting the connection the viewer would normally make with a figure’s facial expression. In progressing the series, I grew enamored with the playful, eclectic energy it radiated, recalling to me the imaginative possibilities of youth. As such, the final collection of images serve as a love letter to that sense of unbridled, curious wonder.

Children’s book detailing the solar system and a love of scientific exploration

I spend – My nights
(Waiting / For)
Fables from,
The ocean (and owls)
(Crooning) / On the branch

I spend / My days – (Listening)
– For fireworks, from
The city
And cars / Careening
On the (block)

Despite offering the potential for communication, technology can often feel isolating. Each photo in this book was taken with a smartphone, of a passerby, distracted. In doing so, I became ironically engrossed in my own process of observation. The increasing digital manipulation of the images suggests consumption, calling into question what we perceive of the landscape, as we so often fail to notice our physical surroundings when engaged with our devices. The captions were select randomly-generated words, trying to capture the unnerving, inhuman distance a digital message can convey.

There was once a time in which landscape photography eschewed all signs of human intrusion upon the order of the natural world. That stance was unsustainable, as the human footprint grew inescapable, and commentary regarding nature shifted from celebration to conservation. In this series, I was interested in depicting spaces devoid of human presence, but quickly discovered they couldn’t be stripped of our influence. Having been constructed or reshaped to suit our needs, in our absence they now felt longing, without purpose. This produced a dissonance I sought to highlight through text, clarifying the hollow, forlorn, sometimes sinister, feelings these places projected. The words also serve as an anchor, providing a tangibility and relevance to the spaces that would normally be assigned to the people occupying them.