works

eating the other
sony ar iv

cambridge, ma

i created this work while and after reading bell hooks’ essay by the same name in her book black looks. this diptych considers similar themes to hooks’ essay. a set of two collages made from a combination of new and found images, i tried to create an atmosphere in which the viewer might feel prompted to consider the relation of bodies, the politics of desire, and the affordances given to one another through our bodies; all through individual photos depicting moments of contact.

車内
iphone

tokyo, kanagawa; japan

車内, pronounced ‘shanai,’ translates to ‘inside a car’ (e.g. train, bus, etc.). i took series of photos on various train lines in the tokyo metropolitan area, mainly on the odakyu line between sakuragaoka and shinjuku. needless to say, i drew inspiration from subwayhands‘ documentation of train-riders in new york city; though hands are prominently featured throughout the series, they are not the focus of the work. living in the greater tokyo area with a regular commute of over an hour provides a unique opportunity to look with tenderness and interest at the countless lives lived in tokyo and the brief 10-45 minutes they intersect while aboard a train.

another photographer goes to japan (もう一人の日本での撮影者)
35 mm film (fujifilm)

tokyo, kanagawa, tochigi, fukushima, niigata; japan

of the world’s countries, Japan is perhaps one of the most examined, scrutinized, and fetishized across multiple diciplines and spheres of Western, American media. from early images of the “exotic” “orient,” which enticed wealthy white travelers to venture east, to the modern epidemic of the 25 year old, fashion-loving, 35mm-shooting, white man, Japan has been photographed by countless Americans. i can claim only a marginally different perspective in this series.

,

i am between all of us
120 film (yashica mat-124 g)

cambridge, ma; providence, ri; new york, ny

i feel as though, in a lot of ways photography is about betweenness. the camera exists between the photographer and the photographed, the photographer exists between the camera and the unseen world, the sensor or film is between the lens and the eye, and ultimately the photograph captures something that exists between each entity in the photo. even after the photo is taken, the photo itself then exists between the viewer(s) and the artist, between bodies and the walls of a gallery. as the photographer, in a way i end up between everyone: between the photographed, the photograph, the viewer, the gallery, the camera. the photos in this series were taken in both public and private settings, depict individuals, duos, trios, and some groups - all thinking on betweenness.

its room

fujifilm gfx 50s

cambridge, ma

there is a unique mundanity to living in a college dorm. it is simultaneously communal and isolating, customizable and mass-produced, individual and generic. college, as an experience that relegates a person to a particualr set of environments, people, and routines, gently and timidly forces an artist to create within those environments, with/about those people, and around those routines. though this is certainly not a hard and fast reality of being an artist in college, escaping the college bubble with the goal of making art is notably difficult especially if one doesn’t attend an art school. accordingly, this series was shot in my college dorm room using no additional equipment besides the camera and what was readily available in the room.

untitled process

iphone

san francisco, ca; eugene, or

healing.

studies

iphone

texture

in our daily lives, we encounter the world largely as a non-uniform visual plane composed of discreet objects. each of these objects, however, hosts its own visual plane that may or may not be uniform. in this way, each object is a world. my texture studies are an exercise in peering into this world.

objects

as someone who favors portraiture, a my object studies are an attempt to complicate the bounds between objectification and personification.

light

visual art, in this case photography, is deals in light. understadning light––its textures, flavors, inconsistencies, and evenescence––is a key part understanding visual art more braodly. my light studies hope to deepen this understanding.

color

color is a contested character in photography; some view it as a crutch, some view it as a well of creativity. since we as human beings see in color, my color studies are simply an exercise in the joy of seeing.

the first
35 mm film (kodak)

oʻahu hawaiʻi

taken on a disposible camera at approximately age 4 or 5 and developed almost two decades later, these are perhaps the first photos i ever took.