Living in the Bardo
Many of the pictures I make begin as an elegy, a conversation about the ephemeral nature of our existence and the fragility of the people and things around us. They are a window into my experience of suffering multiple personal losses over a short period of time. In prolonged grief I came to appreciate what it means to die while we are still alive. There is no letting go of grief, we can only hope to walk with it. I learned what my life was truly made of when I surrendered the illusion of control I thought I had. Living in the bardo is how I think of it, the untethered place Buddhists describe as the intermediate state caused by traumatic ruptures in our everyday existence. In these pictures, I wanted to capture the quiet and melancholy that I felt, the loud silence that opened up when I lost my old reality. I was fortunate to create these pictures with an artist who was able to capture the sense of displacement I was feeling and my need to slowly improvise a new life. I also wanted to express the regenerative nature of our lives, and the art and beauty that can spring forth from tragedy, humility, and appreciation.
As seen in L'ŒIL DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE, January 29, 2022.
