Facing Past

For most of my life, I did everything I could to get far away from the place where I grew up. Where others had great connection and pride, my hometown was a source of endless shame. It was also in many ways my primary motivation to work harder, to make myself into something I could be proud of. 

People are quick to make judgments about others based on arbitrary divisions such as status, race, sexual preference, or any number of factors out of another’s control. My fear of these labels limited me greatly in my desires to express myself, to love myself.

But is distancing myself from my past my own judgment against myself?

This project was born out of a desire to return to the places I grew up after avoiding them for decades. It's a personal confrontation of shame, depression and trauma—but also a desperate attempt to capture a lost youth and memories, both positive and negative, that are long since blocked from my memory.