As We Rest in the Shadows

Driving through Tennessee a few years ago, I met two sisters who invited me on an adventure into their world. The landscapes they roamed became spaces for them to bond, rebel, & rest without observation. This reminded me of my girlhood & the time I spent wandering through the lakes, woods, & rivers with my girl cousins. Fairy tales, urban legends, & our parents told us nature brings harm or lessons to girls. While warned not to stray, desire rose above fear & we disappeared into the depths where we felt closest to ourselves. From Genesis' creation story to Little Red Riding Hood, to the stigmatization of witches, to Twin Peaks & True Crime, these stories cast a shadow of fear over women, distancing the natural & feminine. With these photos & through black & white, I aim to break away from fear-inducing narratives & seek to reconstruct literary & photographic genres historically illustrated by men. My photographs meld their journey & my memories together as I attempt to return to my past. I found that our deepest fear was not rooted in the stories, rather, an unspoken understanding existed among us– as the light shifted to shadows that loomed over us, we were reminded of time itself