"Still, Life" is a photographic series that provides a beautifully raw glimpse into grief and trauma. After the sudden death of my fiancé in 2012, I longed to see visuals of what my inner world felt like. Unable to find such visuals that resonated with me, I began to I examine my inner world of grief through self-portraiture. Each week for a year, I captured images and wrote personal essays to further explore the thoughts, feelings, and themes that came up in these photographs.

This project allowed a space for me to regain my sense of control during a time of deep uncertainty. By creating meaning from the pain, I discovered healing, hope, strength, and beauty. I found ways to use storytelling not only to tell my difficult reality, but also to envision my future - a still beautiful life.

This project has culminated into a powerful collection of 40 photographs with accompanying written excerpts, depicting a distinctly poetic and otherworldly beauty from one of the darkest and most painful of life’s experiences. It left me with a deep and lasting healing which has given me the desire to share it with others. This project has gone on to create a conversation on grief and death, and challenge viewers to explore and reframe their own concepts of grief and the value of human vulnerability.

“Still, Life” has led me to an interest in how we cope with change, which includes both a loss of something that was and an entering into something new. I continue to explore this theme in many different ways, but it is this series that always speaks of it most powerfully to me.

Below is the entire series of photographs and original essays.