It is understood that dogs, like their wild ancestor, the wolf, gather in packs. These packs consist of family groupings including parents and generations of offspring. One of the characteristics that separate dogs from wolves is dogs’ ability to bond and communicate with humans. Dogs accept humans as part of their pack.
It was late summer when I first cradled a puppy named Grover in my arms. That was the day my husband Mike and I embarked on a 12-hour ride home with our new baby. The three of us became an instant family on that journey. Grover was the final piece in the puzzle of all-the-things-I-knew-I-wanted. I was once alone searching for my small voice amidst the chatter of a larger world. Now, I belong to a pack, the big voice in my little world; my fortress.
My Trinity Is a Fortress is an ode to chosen family. Through this work, I consider how traits commonly associated with traditional family and motherhood are reflected in my own experience, tracing a shared thread of caregiving from advocacy and nurturing to unseen domestic labor and devotion in the face of illness.
This series of images holds my gratitude, my fears, and my pride. It is difficult to see what your life is when you’re standing in the middle of it. So I illustrate my life in fantastical tableaus I can hold in my hands to gaze upon that which I cannot see from the inside.
Each photograph is created using a hybrid digital-analog process. Digital images are transferred onto black and white film and printed in the darkroom on silver gelatin paper, then split-toned in sepia and gold. The resulting archival images are embedded in the paper’s fibers. A family story preserved.