Shades in the Dust

Shades in the Dust was initially conceived during time spent 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, the work began to also address the nature of familial attachment and loss. The work has continued to metamorphose as my family has changed with me over the better part of a decade.

Over the course of making these photographs, I experienced several personal losses. There is a hesitant grief that lives in the photos. Through symbols, repetition and non-linear narrative, I present my experiences to the viewer. Water, for instance, began to signify a shifting perspective regarding time; sometimes stagnant, other times flowing; sometimes clear, sometimes murky. 

In Shades in the Dust, I used metaphor as a bridge to larger issues of archetype and mythology that can emerge during periods of crisis and loss. A sense of tension and release infuses the photos and echoes the nature of the coping process. As such, Shades in the Dust ultimately emerges as a study of the fragility of the human experience and the cyclical nature of life.