How to Feel, 2023

DSLR, Varying sizes

This piece originally started as a commission for engagement photos but so quickly turned into an experiment on how we feel when we know. There is nothing more comforting to a human being than security. We feel safe when we know we are secure and a level of security that comes with extreme risk through vulnerability is relationships. Being in relationships is part of our purpose. Not necessarily dating or marriage but friendships, we were not created to be alone. In these relationships, we grow and we become more comfortable, they are constantly moving and changing. Relationships are almost beings within themselves.

This piece explores the visible feelings of relationships. I allowed these two a lot of freedom in what they were doing in order to evoke genuine reactions. I would prompt them with small intimate things such as “Tell her something funny you haven’t told anyone else” or “Whisper in her ear what you love about her”. Keeping things between the two of them I got to capture their reactions as they grow more comfortable with each other. The uniqueness of these photos comes with the perspective that all three of us were having different experiences. Those two entangled in a deep relationship with each other and me as the viewer. No matter how hard they try to explain their feelings to me I will never know until I feel that for myself. It is interesting in the same way that viewing art allows us to feel but never in a way as full as the subjects in the art we view.