It is fundamental to our being that we exist in an inhabited world. We can never escape other people, whether because they are with us or because we surrounded by environments and objects that remind us they exist. It is impossible to live without the influence of them, and it would not be authentic to do so anyway. All we can do is understand that influence and who we are amongst it.
In large cities, the process of creating a clearing in this noise to explore and know ourselves is complicated. These cities are relentless reminders of this shared world, but they are anonymous. They loudly ask for our attention, but rarely demand it. They are full of people, but they are lonely.
Ways of Being with People tells the stories of the physical and mental spaces people adopt in cities in order to survive and to grow. It aims to show the variety of ways of being that we experience when alone and to encourage the viewers to consider how they and those around them experience aloneness.
Since these experiences and the spaces they occupy are transient, this project is shot on film. The imperfection of the medium, and the distortion of development, helps to highlight these ephemeral moments.
In the ensuing period, we have seen the relationships we have with our physical and mental environments strain as isolation and emptiness move between abstraction and solidity. Even more so now, we want to know who we are alone, without purpose and insulated from the busyness of the world. It is meaningful to me to be closing this series, which has the ways residents of cities are impacted by and cultivate aloneness as a fundamental subject, at this time.
This project is a submission to the Photography Museum of Humanity.