I spent years creating and photographing worlds that were similar but adjacent to real life. Ironic situations meant to be clearly fake, but still kind of believable. I created these bad replicas of reality, because I could manipulate them. I was in control and I could make sense of them. Something I can’t always do in reality. After the project was over, I realized many of the images were extremely personal. The initial project was supposed to help me better understand photography’s flawed trust worthiness. Instead I ended up with an ongoing series that has been helping me accept my hometown, and how it shaped me.
 
still downriver is a collection of images cherry picked from the archive of a past project. I’ve always struggled with my identity and where I’m from, but it’s only after these images were created and I had time away from them, that I could see how strongly that struggle came through. These couple of photos from still downriver are instances of me reclaiming childhood objects and places. Proudly or not so proudly forcing myself to reflect on where I grew up and how my upbringing shaped who I became.