EVE
What have I bestowed upon my children from my prior generations?
This project reflects on the intergenerational transmission of gender patterns in raising children, which can lead to inequality and encourages “gender roles,” such as the focus on power and success for boys and societal pressure of image and place for girls. From an early age, parents and educators consciously or unconsciously stereotype and model their children with gender-related expectations. These children then constitute the society that will further define gender behaviors, creating an ongoing cycle that is difficult to upend.
I use both traditional view and digital cameras to create a series of photographs that unveil these feelings of tension and unease. Adjacent to the images are testimonials from friends and family that reflect these emotions and expectations that follow us quietly throughout life. The text is printed in off-white on a white surface, resulting in a nearly illegible element of the work, just as what we see on the surface of those around us is a glimpse of the full story.
Ceramics are timeless and commonly associated with feeding and domestic space. They are solid yet fragile objects that can be passed from generation to generation. These elements inspired me to experiment with alternative photographic processes on clay. I mixed different techniques to integrate photography and clay in a fully fired ceramic, thus preserving the image.
I also intend to publish a book that would enable my work to reach a larger audience.
Threshold
Early in the morning and late in the afternoon when the sun is low, light penetrates my house and casting shadows. My photographs capture the blend of interior and exterior for brief revelatory moments. Windows become porous, words conjoin, and a tension between restrain and freedom is born.
In his essay the “Uncanny” (1919), Freud investigates the meaning of “heimich” (domestic,familiar) and “unheimlich”. He writes about how the unexpected can render the familiar unfamiliar. My photographs explore this ambiguity by interpreting the familiar spaces of my home in an unsettle manner. I look for the unexpected, staging some of the pictures to create cinematic tension, and leaving undefined what occurred before and may happen after.
This series is a meditation on uncertainty. I explore the beauty found in everyday experience but also anxieties provoked by the unknown, and the reassuring environment we would like to create and control but also the fragility of this ideal.