What If You Don't Believe in Me and You're Wrong?

What If You Don’t Believe in Me and You’re Wrong? is a long-term photographic project documenting the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and its surrounding communities. It explores a region that has been shaped by extraction, decline, and persistence. My grandparents worked in the coal mines, fought in World War II, and raised their families in the area. My parents left Pennsylvania in the 1970s, but my childhood was filled with countless trips back to where they grew up for holidays, birthday parties, and cookouts. Scranton today feels much the same as it did during my childhood in the 1980s. Like many industrial cities of the Rust Belt, it fell on hard times during the second half of the twentieth century. The coal mines are long closed, factory jobs have moved overseas, and many residents struggle economically. Yet Scranton remains a proud city, full of proud people. As I roam its streets, I recognize where my parents learned their strong work ethic. In the American flags on front porches and lampposts, I see where their patriotism took shape. In the war memorials and banners, I see where they learned about sacrifice. In the crosses and Virgin Mary statues on front lawns, I see where their faith took hold. The project is an attempt to understand a place that feels intimately familiar and foreign at the same time. It examines a city that informed the morals and ideals of my childhood-- some of which I have carried forward, and others I have questioned or rejected over time. It explores a place that is often misunderstood or overlooked, but also one that holds my deep affection and continues to shape how I see the world.