Are We There Yet?

Are We There Yet? is a series of large-format photographs exploring modern fatherhood. Utilizing moments of humor and satire, the highly constructed tableau images create scenarios that play out anxieties as well as the everyday encounters of being a dad in rural suburban America. After finding myself married with three kids and living in a small suburban-esque neighborhood filled with cookie-cutter houses, things that I never exactly imagined or planned for, the idealized notions of the American family have become increasingly significant as well as overwhelming to me. Between the patriarchal depictions of fatherhood in 1980s and 1990s media that influenced my idea of family through my childhood, to the contemporary pressures of being an involved and nurturing father, all the while not really having any idea of how to be a father at all, this project is my way of trying to understand where I exist within this spectrum, and what fatherhood, family, and masculinity mean to me. Each image deals with relatable parenting struggles and the stereotypes associated with fatherhood. This includes the realities of managing chaos, the high levels of tension, the feelings of lost identity and inadequacy, and also the sheer love of being a parent. Juxtaposing the highly polished and colorful elements that can be seen within everyday family life with scenarios and symbolic elements that create a sense of unease and exhaustion, the resulting images create a surreal and often humorous narrative that provides relatability to a broad spectrum of viewers as well as questions the constructions that drive modern parenting. If we can’t laugh, we cry. Sometimes we do both.