EVEN AMIDST FIERCE FLAMES THE GOLDEN LOTUS CAN BE PLANTED.

This series of images is about embarking on the journey from adolescence to adulthood. Each image was made using 35mm film, shot on hand-me-down cameras, and developed at local drugstores. The series was created throughout the span of a year, my 19th year, at a time when photography was a means of engaging with the world around me rather than an artistic medium. Today, the images function as a meditation on memory, allowing me to compare what I remember with what I perceived at the time. The work aims to juxtapose a world that is both beautiful and threatening while highlighting the resilience of innocence.