Dear Intimacy,

What would you have me know today?

I’m participating in a one year photography mentorship with three other students and a teaching assistant. We meet every Tuesday on zoom to learn about and discuss photography (and life!). We call ourselves JAMMS². As per current events, this week we started by chatting about the US election. By the end of our chat, it felt like we were rallying for humanity! We agreed that, as artists, this is our time to rise up, to make art that makes people feel something, and put this art out into the world.

On my run this morning I was thinking about this chat from class. Art is about emotion. It's about love, death, hope, heartbreak, pain, anger, pride, growth, regret, struggle, grief, life, loss, and joy. Art forces us to confront our vulnerabilities and our mortality. Art forces us to question our beliefs, our values, what we find shocking, and why. In other words, art forces us to question who we are. Moreover, when an artist put their art into the world they are showing us their humanity, and this act allows us to tap into our humanity.

This is a photograph I took of my daughter, Margot, when she was 3.5 years old. She’s crying because she had dropped her lollipop. Coincidently, my mom died around this time. Maybe Margot’s outward tears were a reflection of my inward tears? Before my mom died I had a hard time making a photograph like this. Somehow, making these kinds of photographs don’t feel so hard anymore.