Conceptual nominee

This series is about the rupture and resilience of immigrant identity. I took two portraits of Nobuo, age 80, one facing forward and one backward to emphasize the space between past and present. On these portraits I superimposed scans of his childhood pictures, school photos and government documents. The collages merge two photographic styles important to immigrant experience: the photo as “proof of identity” (permanent residency card, passport) and the family album as a reliquary of memories, loss, love, and dreams.

I began a dedicated practice in photography in 2020. A guiding principle of my work is expressed in the Japanese word miren — a feeling of lingering attachment for a lost time, love, or experience.