Forgotten Sweethearts
Forgotten Sweethearts examines the intersection of personal and collective history through the lens of discarded photographs, heirlooms, and lost artifacts. This project engages with the ways history is preserved, fragmented, and sometimes erased—revealing how personal narratives slip into the broader currents of time.
Using a form of visual archaeology, I uncover and recontextualize orphaned artifacts: family portraits rescued from dumpsters, vintage lockets still holding the faces of unknown figures, and albums once treasured but now severed from their histories. These remnants, once deeply personal, now exist as anonymous relics of an undocumented past, challenging our notions of identity, memory, and historical permanence.
At the heart of this work are antique lockets containing "forgotten sweethearts"—photographs of strangers whose stories have been lost to time. These miniature archives transform intimacy into historical mystery, prompting us to ask: What happens when personal history dissolves? How do these remnants of the past shape our understanding of belonging and heritage? By placing these unidentified faces in spaces of reverence, I aim to reconstruct meaning, not by restoring lost narratives but by acknowledging their absence. By cutting locket sized holes into found images, what stories am I leaving behind in the remainder of the picture?
This project also explores the broader historical forces that fracture our genealogies—migration, war, and social upheaval—all of which leave behind untethered artifacts. In an era where personal and collective histories are increasingly digitized, Forgotten Sweethearts reflects on the physical traces that remain, questioning how we document, preserve, and reinterpret history.
Through photography, mixed media, and fictionalized narratives, I invite viewers to engage with these artifacts as both historical fragments and sentimental relics. Forgotten Sweethearts is an act of remembrance and reclamation—an invitation to show love to those who have long been forgotten.
Lake People
While the Great Lakes region is best known for the large bodies of water that define its geography and the rust belt cities that line their shores, smaller lakes and the communities that form around them also play an important role in determining the character of the region. Like much of the U.S., these communities are rapidly changing, and gentrifying as quaint cottages and country homes are replaced by McMansions and sprawling estates. Corey Lake, a small Michigan lake located midway between Chicago and Detroit, is one such community. Lake People documents a few of the families whose stories are linked to the lake and the historic homes and rustic cottages they still own, some of whose history on the lake goes back five generations. The aesthetic of these lake houses feels both familiar and increasingly exotic with exposed wood, stone fireplaces, and nautical décor lending a sense of nostalgia to the present. 
Detroit Storefront Churches
A storefront church is a place of worship built within in a non-traditional space. From former doctors’ offices, banks, garages, homes, warehouses, etc, these structures utilize buildings originally built for another purpose. Storefront churches are largely an American phenomenon, while they are not unique to Detroit, there is a disproportionately large number of them in the city which is correlated to the history of Detroit and its population decline throughout the years. Given the origin of each building, every storefront church is aesthetically unique, yet distinctively Detroit. For example, on one three-mile stretch of road in East Detroit, there are 36 storefront churches. The large majority of the churches documented for this project are currently in use.
Macro Photography
Looking deeper at life in my backyard and beyond
Citrus and Soil
Living in Chula Vista, once celebrated as "The Lemon Capital of the World," in a neighborhood once vibrant with lemon groves and strawberry fields, I felt inspired to look closer at the food we eat and the land it grows on. Through detailed photographs of fruits like lemons and oranges, my work explores the cultural and historical significance of what nourishes us and the evolving landscapes that sustain our communities.
This project celebrates the lesser-known agricultural histories and the interconnectedness of people, food, and the environment, encouraging a deeper appreciation for the beauty and stories found in the everyday.
