Carpe Noctem
My work explores the subtle unnerving shifts that happen in the dark. I capture the domestic experience of living in a physically dark space for over a decade, and the eccentricities, transition, and life after midnight in my hometown of Altoona, Pennsylvania. Influenced by personal and local stories, true crime, psychological phenomena, parapsychology, and extrasensory perception, I see myself as a detective of my surroundings, investigating peculiar spaces, stories, and experiences, with my photographic work serving as my evidence.
I have spent more hours awake at night, because that is the time of day where uncertainty, the unexpected, the in-between happens. Being the only one awake at that time is almost a magical experience. Given that most people will never experience the world at night, documenting the happenings of the night are a singular way for me to share my lived experience which happens while they are asleep. What dark corners can be briefly illuminated for diurnal eyes? I work in high contrast black and white photography to provide situational ambiguity and to heighten the senses. I envision each image to have its own story or moment- almost as a still from a scene in a movie. With more time spent exploring, the more stories I uncover. As I stumble upon unfamiliar places, I look at my hometown through my own emotional narratives, attending to unexpected discomforts, contradictions, and obscure situations, and the delight of deciphering the nocturnally unpredictable in an old, familiar town.
Advisers/Committee
