Open Theme nominee

The contrast between isolation and connectedness creates an uncomfortable space that I often occupy. These images represent that aforementioned space. I aim to invoke feelings of familiarity and detachment through seemingly universal spaces that could be anywhere or no place at all. My goal is to create an empathic connection between the audience and myself, drawing in the viewer while keeping them at an outside distance.

Photographing contexts reveal an unconscious conversation between public spaces and myself. I wonder streets with the vague intent of finding contexts that exhibit strong colors, shadows, and negative space. I observe the environment from a distance, collecting data with minimal intrusion, to create a narrative about where I have been.

Nostalgia advances with technology exemplified by the use of retro filter apps that pays homage to artists such as Stephen Shore and William Eggleston, but repeating to excess the social sharing and instability of images a la the Polaroid camera. Prints are tangible in a way that contemporary images are not; the same way that connection with another person differs when mediated by a screen. Although the feeds of phones are loud there is a quietness brought about by peering into rectangular boxes.

Neuroscientists play an integral part in culture but the public knows little about how science is done, who does it or why it’s important. One consequence of opaque scientific work is the inability to see which individuals are conducting their research, their personal stories, and their motivations to help reveal the complexity of the nature we are imbued by.

These images were captured with a compact large format camera using experimental New55 PN instant film. The opaqueness of the positive (left) represents the raw data collected by scientists on their quest to understand nature. The inverted negative (right) represents how scientists reveal nature through filtering data, beautifying imagery, and at times removing unwanted, but captured information.

All scientists are part of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.