Shades in the Dust
Shades in the Dustis a project that was conceived during my years in Louisiana in the graduate photography program at Louisiana State University. The project began as a narrative series exploring issues of identity and alienation, but over time additionally addressed the nature of family and the fear and reality of the loss of loved ones.
During the time that I spent developing the project, I lost both of my maternal grandparents, as well as my father. A sense of grief began to color my feelings of displacement and this work metamorphosed into a meditation on what it means to carry on without those close to you. The similarities and contradictions that are inherent in our relationship with the land became symbols of both the past and the possible future. Water, a recurring element in the series, began to signify shifting perspectives regarding time; sometimes stagnant, other times flowing, sometimes clear, sometimes murky.
Shades in the Dust is also, just as importantly, a consideration of what it means to build a new family, to see it live and grow, and to fear its disintegration. My stepchild was diagnosed with cancer in 2017 and the terror of a world without him in it was constantly with me as I finished my studies at LSU. I made multiple trips between Mississippi and Louisiana and sought to chronicle the disarray that was my world at that time.
Though my family has found stability now and my stepchild has emerged with his cancer in complete remission, Shades in the Dust is a reminder of the fragility of the human experience and the cyclical nature of our existence.