Prism Photography

    During the summer of 2015, I lost my grandfather Papa Jim to lung cancer. His death hit me harder than anything that I have ever experienced. He was always a constant figure of gentleness and love throughout my life, and his absence has created a deep emptiness in my existence.

   

     In order to cope with my loss, I began documenting my hometown in Southern Maryland where I grew up. I found myself searching for places where I felt his spirit, and I shot those places with my medium format camera. Before his funeral, my family and I gathered pictures of him to display. Those images of him healthy and alive struck me and forced me to recall all of my memories with him. But every time I recall these memories, am I bending them to my will? Am I remembering what I want to remember?

  

     I layered the images that I shot with the past images of him as a representation for how my memories are constantly changing. Some of my memories of him are lost, and yet some are stronger than ever. The sound component of my installation includes a writing component about my life with my Papa Jim and how he helped me grow. This project is my own way of recovery and coming to terms with this loss and the idea of death. I will miss my grandfather every single day for the rest of my life, but his spirit lives on in my heart as well as in my own art.